Pashinyan and Erdogan Hold Talks in Turkey on Restoring Ties, Reopening Border

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are holding talks Wednesday in Antalya, Turkey, as their countries pursue efforts to establish diplomatic relations and reopen a shared border closed for more than three decades.

The meeting is taking place on the sidelines of the United Nations COP31 climate summit, which has brought world leaders, including those of Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the Turkish resort city.

Participating in the talks are Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Armenian Environment Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan and Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization.

The talks follow renewed expressions of optimism from Armenian officials about the prospects of reopening the land border. Despite years of negotiations and several agreements, Armenia and Turkey have yet to establish diplomatic relations.

Pashinyan and Erdogan last met in September in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. According to official statements released after that meeting, both leaders supported continuing normalization talks without preconditions and taking additional steps to improve relations.

Armenia and Turkey launched their latest normalization effort in 2021, appointing special representatives to negotiate the restoration of ties. Although both governments have publicly backed a process without preconditions, Ankara has repeatedly linked progress to relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

That position has complicated negotiations and delayed the implementation of agreements, including a commitment to open the land border to citizens of third countries.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Reopening it would restore a direct land connection between Armenia and Turkey, creating opportunities for trade, transportation and regional economic cooperation.

Armenian officials have recently voiced growing confidence that the border could reopen, but no date has been announced.

The Antalya meeting also follows the COP17 United Nations biodiversity conference held in Yerevan in October. Turkey sent its agriculture minister to that gathering. Erdogan and Fidan did not attend.

The latest talks take place as Armenia and Azerbaijan pursue a peace agreement and Yerevan seeks closer ties with Ankara, efforts that could reshape relations in the South Caucasus.

Neither government has announced a new agreement from Wednesday’s meeting.

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