Erdoğan Meets Pashinyan to Advance Türkiye-Armenia Normalization

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in a closed-door session on Wednesday at the Turkish House in New York. The meeting, attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, occurred on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly to advance the normalization of relations between the two countries.

During the General Assembly, Erdoğan expressed his desire for a lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, praising the political will of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan. He noted that Türkiye is continuing its own process of normalizing relations with Armenia, a goal Ankara views as essential for regional stability and economic cooperation in the South Caucasus.

Türkiye and Armenia have worked to repair strained ties since appointing special representatives in late 2021, which resulted in the resumption of direct flights and air cargo links. Despite this progress, the two nations still lack full diplomatic relations, and their land border has remained closed since 1993. In separate remarks, Erdoğan also highlighted the Organization of Turkic States as a model for regional cooperation ahead of its 13th Summit in Ankara on October 30.