General Information

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

Armenia and Türkiye made several attempts to normalize bilateral relations. Upon the Armenian initiative, as a result of another phase of Armenian-Turkish normalization 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 was initiated in the end of 2021. The Special Representatives of the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Türkiye met 5 times aiming to normalize relations respectively on January 14, February 24, May 3, July 1, 2022 and July 30, 2024.

On July 1, 2022 in Vienna 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 also agreed on commencing direct air cargo trade between Armenia and Türkiye at the earliest possible date.

On January 6, 2023, Türkiye officialy informed that the ban on direct air cargo transportation between two countries had been lifted. Direct air communication between Armenia and Türkiye was re-established since February 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 July 30, 2024, the Special Representatives for the normalization process between Armenia and Türkiye held their fifth meeting on the Margara–Alican crossing point on the border of the two countries, where they reconfirmed the agreements reached at their previous meetings. They also agreed to assess the technical requirements to enable functioning of Akhurik/Akyaka railroad border gate in line with the regional developments as well as to simplify their mutual visa procedures for diplomatic/official passport holders.

Contacts between the high-ranking officials of the two countries have also intensified within the framework of the normalization process. In particular, meetings were held between the Prime Minister of the RA and the President of Türkiye (October 6, 2022, Prague /European Political Community/, September 24, 2024, New York /UN General Assembly 79^th Session/), the Presidents of Parliaments (May 4, 2023, Ankara /30th Anniversary Summit of the Speakers of Parliaments of the PABSEC/, October 14, 2024, Geneva /149th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union/) and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs (March 12, 2022, Antalya /Antalya Diplomatic Forum/, October 23, 2023, Tehran /Regional Consultative Platform “3+3”/, March 1, 2024, Antalya /Antalya Diplomatic Forum/, October 18, 2024, Istanbul /Regional Consultative Platform “3+3”/) of the two countries.

Visits

Türkıye

Armenıa

Trade turnover (thousand US dollars)

Updated on 27.11.2024.