President Erdoğan sees ’opportunity’ to mend Armenia ties

ZANGILAN

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 20 that there was an opportunity to repair ties with Armenia, linking it with the normalization underway between Yerevan and Ankara’s ally Azerbaijan.

Earlier this month, Yerevan and Baku began drafting the text of a future peace treaty, with Erdoğan subsequently meeting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for rare talks in the Czech Republic.

"The processes of normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia, between Türkiye and Armenia, are interdependent," Erdoğan said on a visit to Azerbaijan’s Zangilan district.

"We must seize the opportunity which has opened," he told a news conference alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Erdoğan attended the inauguration of a new airport in Zangilan, which Baku’s forces recaptured from Armenian occupiers during their 2020 conflict.

Aliyev said "the unity of Azerbaijan and Türkiye sends a serious message to the region and the entire world as it is a factor of stability".