General Information

The Republic of Türkiye officially recognized independence of the Republic of Armenia on 24 December 1991.

Diplomatic relations, however, have not been established. Türkiye unilaterally closed its air and land borders with Armenia in 1993, thereafter reopened its air border in 1995.

With the support of international partners, Armenia and Türkiye made several attempts to normalize bilateral relations.

Upon the Armenian initiative, as a result of another phase of Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process in 2008, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries on October 10, 2009 in Zurich signed “Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Türkiye” and “Protocol on development of relations between of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Türkiye”. However, Türkiye rejected to ratify the signed protocols within a reasonable timeframe. The President of the Republic of Armenia signed a decree on suspension of the process of ratifications of the Protocols on April 22, 2010. According to the decree signed by President of the Republic of Armenia the protocols were called back from the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on February 16, 2015. The President of the Republic of Armenia signed a decree on termination of the procedure of signing of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols on March 1, 2018.

As recorded in the programme of the Government of the Republic of Armenia for 2021-2026, the Government will take steps for the full normalization of relations with Türkiye without preconditions, which is in the interest of stability, security and economic development of the region.   

The current normalization process between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Türkiye initiated in the end of 2021. The Special Representatives of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Türkiye met 4 times aiming to normalize relations respectively on January 14, February 24, May 3, July 1, 2022.

The Special Representatives of Armenia and Türkiye agreed to enable the crossing of the land border between Armenia and Türkiye by third-country citizens visiting Armenia and Türkiye respectively at the earliest date possible. They decided to initiate the necessary process to that end during their fourth meeting held on July 1, 2022 in Vienna. They also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Armenia and Türkiye at the earliest possible date and decided to initiate the necessary process to that effect.

On January 6, 2023, the Turkish side informed that the ban on direct air cargo transportation between two countries had been lifted. Within the framework of the normalization process of the two countries, the representatives of the respective authorities of the two countries met twice in November-December 2022. Within the framework of normalization process of two countries, direct air communication between Armenia and Türkiye re-established since February 2022.

Upon the invitation of the Turkish side, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia participated in the Antalya Diplomatic Forum on March 10-12, 2022. In the margins of the Forum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia met his Turkish counterpart. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with the President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on July 11, 2022. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the President of the Republic of Türkiye met in Prague in the margins of the first meeting of the European Political Community on October 6, 2022.

A day after the devastating earthquake in Türkıye, On February 7, 2023, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with the President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan. By the decree of the Armenian Government, 27 members of the Search and Rescue team of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs were deployed to the city of Adiyaman in Türkiye from 8 to 16 February. On February 11, five Armenian trucks loaded with one hundred tons of humanitarian aid crossed the Armenian-Turkish Margara-Alijan (Igdir) land border and headed to Türkiye. On February 15, the second batch of twelve tons of humanitarian aid from Armenia to Türkiye was transported to Adiyaman by two trucks through the same road. On February 15, the meeting of Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was held in Ankara, after which Minister Mirzoyan visited the places of unloading the second batch of the Armenian humanitarian aid and deployment of the Armenian Search and Rescue team in Adiyaman.

On May 4, 2023, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan participated in the 30th Anniversary Summit of the Speakers of Parliaments of The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Ankara. During his visit, Alen Simonyan had a bilateral meeting with the Speaker of Turkish Parliament Mustafa Şentop.

On June 3, 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the inauguration ceremony of the re-elected President of Türkıye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

On June 7, 2023, a phone conversation took place between Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye Hakan Fidan. The parites expressed willingness to continue working towards full normalisation of relations between Armenia and Türkiye.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with the President of Türkıye Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 28, 2023. The leaders discussed the process of regulating bilateral relations between the countries.  

On October 23, 2023, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan within the framework of the meeting of the regional consultative platform (3+3) in Tehran. The willingness to implement the previously reached agreements was reaffirmed.

Visits

Türkıye

Armenıa

Trade turnover (thousand US dollars)

Updated in 26.12.2023