Erdoğan receives Armenia PM on 'historic' Türkiye visit

Erdoğan receives Armenia PM on 'historic' Türkiye visit

ANKARA
Erdoğan receives Armenia PM on historic Türkiye visit

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul on a rare visit to Türkiye, in what Yerevan describes as a "historic" step toward regional peace.

Haberin Devamı

The talks began shortly before 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) at Istanbul's Dolmabahçe Palace, Turkish Presidency said.

Erdoğan told Pashinyan that Türkiye is using all diplomatic means to establish stability not only in Caucasus but in the entire region.

Also stressing ongoing engagements with other leaders to stem the risks arising from the escalating cycle of violence sparked by Israel’s attacks on Iran, Erdoğan highlighted the importance of the consensus achieved in ongoing peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, considering the current context, Türkiye's Communications Directorate said on X.

During their meeting, Erdoğan and Pashinyan also discussed current regional developments, contacts between Ankara and Yerevan, and the peace and dialogue process in the South Caucasus.

The Turkish president also affirmed that his country will keep providing a range of support for endeavors aimed at the region’s development, based on a “win-win” approach.

The meeting also discussed possible measures to be taken as part of the normalization process between Türkiye and Armenia.

Armenia and Türkiye have never established formal diplomatic ties and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s.

Ahead of the talks, Pashinyan visited the Armenian Patriarchal Church and the Blue Mosque and met members of the Turkish Armenian community, he said on his official Facebook page.

But his visit sparked unease back home. Police rounded up "several dozen" opposition supporters in the capital Yerevan and beyond Friday, rights groups and a lawyers coalition said.

Armenia's interior ministry did not comment on the detentions, but said police had acted on information about plans to disrupt the peace.

"This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Türkiye at this level. All regional issues will be discussed," Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters.

"The risks of war (with Azerbaijan) are currently minimal, and we must work to neutralize them. Pashinyan's visit to Türkiye is a step in that direction."

An Armenian foreign ministry official told AFP the pair will discuss efforts to sign a comprehensive peace treaty as well as the regional fallout from the Iran-Israel conflict.

Haberin Devamı

On Thursday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was in Türkiye for talks with Erdoğan and praised the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as "a significant factor, not only regionally but also globally."

And Erdoğan repeated his backing for "the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia".

Baku and Yerevan agreed on the text of a peace deal in March, but Baku has since outlined a host of demands - including changes to Armenia's constitution - before it will sign the document.

 Ankara backed its close ally, Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in its long-running conflict with Armenia.

Haberin Devamı

Pashinyan has actively sought to normalize relations with both Baku and Ankara.

"Pashinyan is very keen to break Armenia out of its isolation and the best way to do that is a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and a normalization agreement with Türkiye," Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe told AFP.

Earlier this year, Pashinyan said Armenia would halt its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide -  a major concession to Türkiye that sparked widespread criticism at home.

He has visited Türkiye only once before, for Erdoğan's 2023 inauguration. At the time he was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate him on his re-election.

Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalization process, a year after Armenia's defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over then then-disputed Karabakh region.

In 2022, Türkiye and Armenia resumed commercial flights after a two-year pause.

A previous attempt to normalize relations - a 2009 accord to open the border - was never ratified by Armenia and abandoned in 2018.