Armenian Prime Minister To Meet Erdogan In Rare Visit To Turkey Aimed At Mending Ties
The talks between the two countries, which have no formal diplomatic ties, were expected to center on the possible reopening of their joint border.
Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, shut down its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Baku, which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of the region.
Turkey and Armenia also have a more than century-old dispute over the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in massacres, deportations, and forced marches that began in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. Historians widely view the event as genocide. Turkey vehemently rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but insisting that the death toll is inflated and the deaths resulted from civil unrest.
The rare visit by an Armenian leader comes after Ankara and Yerevan agreed in 2021 to launch efforts toward normalizing ties and appointed special representatives to lead talks. Pashinyan previously visited Turkey in 2023 when he attended a presidential inauguration ceremony following an election victory by Erdogan. The two have also held talks on the sidelines of a meeting in Prague in 2022.
It is Ankara and Yerevan's second attempt at reconciliation. Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement in 2009 to establish formal relations and to open their border, but the deal was never ratified because of strong opposition from Azerbaijan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
15 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Iran tells Armenia Trump-backed land corridor may be part of US ploy
Iran stepped up warnings to Armenia on Monday over a planned US-backed corridor linking Azerbaijan to an exclave near the Iranian border, part of a recent peace deal between Yerevan and Baku. In a phone call with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian 'warned against possible actions by the United States, which could pursue hegemonic goals in the Caucasus region under the guise of economic investments and peace guarantees,' according to a statement from Tehran. The land corridor dubbed the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity' is part of a deal signed last week in Washington between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Under the deal, the United States will have the development rights of the proposed route, which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave, passing near the Iranian border. Iran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor, fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus, and bring potentially hostile foreign forces to near its borders. Pezeshkian said Iran 'welcomes any agreement that promotes the strengthening of peace' among its neighbors, but emphasized the need to prevent the 'interference of any military or security force' in implementing the corridor project, according to the statement from his office. Armenia's deputy foreign minister is due in Tehran on Tuesday for talks on the issue, Tehran has said. On Saturday, a senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader said Tehran will not allow the creation of the planned corridor, warning that the area would become 'a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries.'
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Saudi Gazette
Turkey earthquake flattens buildings in north-east Balikesir province
ISTANBUL — One person has died in Turkey after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck the north-west province of Balikesir on Sunday evening. An 81-year-old woman passed away shortly after she was pulled out from rubble in the town of Sindirgi, which was the epicentre of the quake, Turkey's interior minister said. Sixteen buildings collapsed as a result of the tremors, and 29 people had been injured, Ali Yerlikaya added. Turkey's disaster management agency said the quake was recorded at around 19:53 local time (16:53 GMT), and was felt as far away as Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement wishing a swift recovery to everyone who was affected, and said that all recovery efforts were being closely monitored. "May God protect our country from any kind of disaster," he wrote on X. Search and rescue operations have now concluded, and the interior minister said that there were no other signs of serious damage or casualties. Pictures from Sindirgi, however, show large buildings totally flattened and towering piles of twisted metal and debris. Turkey is located at the intersection of three major tectonic plates, and experiences frequent seismic activity as a result. In February 2023, more than 50,000 people were killed when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the south-eastern region of the country. A further 5,000 were killed in neighbouring Syria. More than two years on from that quake, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced. — BBC
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Azerbaijan Says Energy Cooperation with Ukraine Won't be Derailed by Russian Strikes
Azerbaijan's president on Sunday condemned Russian air strikes on Azerbaijani oil and gas facilities in Ukraine but said energy cooperation between the two countries would continue. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy by phone. "During the conversation, both sides condemned the deliberate airstrikes by Russia on an oil storage facility owned by Azerbaijan's SOCAR in Ukraine, as well as other Azerbaijani facilities and a gas compressor station transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine," Aliyev's press service said in a statement, Reuters reported. "They emphasized their confidence that these attacks would not hinder energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine." Earlier this week, Russia struck an oil depot owned by SOCAR and a gas pumping station used to import liquefied natural gas from the US and Azerbaijan in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, according to sources and Ukrainian officials. In July, Ukraine pumped a test volume of Azerbaijani gas through the Transbalkan route for the first time and announced plans to significantly increase gas imports from Azerbaijan. Ukraine's infrastructure and energy facilities are frequently targeted by Russian forces, which have stepped up their drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns in recent months.
