Armenian and Turkish Leaders Renew Talks To Mend Decades-Old Rift
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is set to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday in Ankara, as the two countries attempt once again to repair relations after decades of hostilities and a closed border. The meeting marks the latest step in a cautious diplomatic thaw between Armenia and Turkey, which have had no formal diplomatic ties since the early 1990s.
The border between the two countries has remained closed since 1993, when Turkey shut it in support of Azerbaijan during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Tensions escalated again during the 2020 conflict, in which Turkey supported Azerbaijan militarily as it regained control over large areas of the disputed territory.
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One of the most sensitive issues remains the 1915 mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Armenia and many scholars recognize the killings as genocide, a characterization Turkey rejects, maintaining the deaths occurred amid wartime violence.
The upcoming meeting will be the first official visit by an Armenian leader to Turkey in years, although Pashinyan previously attended Erdoğan’s 2023 inauguration and held brief discussions at a 2022 summit in Prague. Both countries began a new normalization process in 2021, naming special envoys to lead negotiations.
An earlier attempt to restore relations in 2009 failed after backlash from Azerbaijan. Analysts suggest this new effort is shaped by a changing geopolitical environment, including reduced Russian influence in the region. Success in reopening the border and establishing full diplomatic ties could alter economic and strategic dynamics in the South Caucasus.
