Turkey and Armenia have resumed direct trade relations
Turkey and Armenia have resumed direct trade relations as part of the process of normalizing bilateral relations, which has been ongoing since 2022. The two sides are continuing to take gradual steps toward improving cooperation following a prolonged period of tension.
This was reported by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on social media.
“As part of the normalization process with Armenia, which has been ongoing since 2022, and confidence-building measures, the bureaucratic preparations for the launch of direct trade between our country and Armenia were completed as of May 11, 2026,” the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
It is noted that the necessary technical and bureaucratic work to open the shared border between the two countries is still ongoing.
Thanks to the new regulations, goods shipped from Turkey to Armenia via third countries or in the opposite direction can now be officially marked as having “Armenia/Turkey” as their final destination or point of origin.
As is well known, on December 24, 1991, Turkey officially recognized the Republic of Armenia, but has so far refused to establish diplomatic relations with it.
In 1993, Turkey unilaterally closed its air and land borders with Armenia. The air border was reopened in 1995 under pressure from the international community. Turkey has set forth a number of conditions for opening the land border and establishing diplomatic relations, including the refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide internationally.
Since 1991, a number of attempts have been made to normalize bilateral relations, but these have failed due to Turkey’s position.
The process of normalizing relations was initiated in the fall of 2008 by Serzh Sargsyan, who was then serving as President of Armenia. On October 10, 2009, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed the “Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations” and the “Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations” in Zurich, which were to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries. However, on April 22, 2010, Sargsyan issued a decree halting the ratification process of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, stating that Turkey was “not ready to continue the process that had been initiated.”
In January 2022, negotiations on normalizing relations were held for the first time since 2009.
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Pashinyan also stated that Armenia seeks to join the EU.
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