‘Historic’ visit from Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan: Why is the meeting important?

The visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Istanbul on June 20, upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has historical significance.

Türkiye cut off diplomatic relations with Armenia after the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993.

In 2009, then-presidents Abdullah Gül and Serzh Sargsyan watched a match together, first in Yerevan and then in Bursa, Turkey.

More recently, Pashinyan attended Erdoğan’s presidential inauguration in June 2023, and the two leaders later met at various international summits.

Erdoğan and Pashinyan, who last met face to face at the European Political Community summit in Albania in May, also spoke on the phone during Eid al-Adha.

However, the meeting to be held tomorrow was announced as a “working visit”, unlike these.

Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan also drew attention to this point and said, “This is a historic visit because it will be the first visit at the level of the Armenian prime minister.”

The meeting is of great importance in terms of the normalization process carried out by Türkiye and Armenia, which have not yet established diplomatic relations.

The two countries decided to “normalize” relations in 2021, but the process continues.

Diplomatic sources in Ankara draw attention to the recently increasing dialog between Ankara and Yerevan.

Pashinyan made evaluations about relations with Turkey at a meeting he attended in Prague this week, saying, “We had several meetings with President Erdoğan and these meetings were quite constructive. Although there are no concrete results on the ground yet, we have made significant progress.”

“For example, three years ago, when Armenia wanted to learn Türkiye’s position on an issue, it could do so only through the mediation of third parties. Today, we have direct, even daily, contacts with our neighbors,” the Armenian Prime Minister said.

It is not yet known what kind of protocol will be applied to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan during the visit.

However, the fact that the meeting was in Istanbul and was within the scope of a “working visit” led to assessments that the protocol applied to other heads of state and government would not be applied.

They will meet immediately after Aliyev’s visit

Pashinyan’s visit is also important because it comes right after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Türkiye today.

Erdoğan and Aliyev will inaugurate the permanent housing project built by Türkiye and Azerbaijan in Kahramanmaraş under the name “Azerbaijan Neighborhood” following the 2023 earthquakes.

However, the two leaders are also expected to comprehensively discuss the normalization process that Armenia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan are carrying out separately but in coordination.

Azerbaijan and Armenia announced in March that they had reached an agreement on the 17-article agreement text.

However, Azerbaijan wants Armenia to amend its constitution because of the references to Karabakh in its constitution.

Pashinyan gives positive messages for changes to the constitution, but stresses that this should not delay the signing of the agreement.

Pashinyan said at a meeting he attended in Prague this week that he aims to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan by the end of the year.

There is a normalization process on the agenda

The main agenda item of the talks to be held between Erdoğan and Pashinyan in Ankara will be the normalization process between the two countries.

Türkiye and Armenia appointed mutual special representatives in 2021 and initiated a process to establish diplomatic relations.

Despite progress in the normalization process that began after the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, which resulted in Armenia losing Nagorno-Karabakh, which it had controlled since the early 1990s, no concrete agreement has been reached.

The most important reason for this is Türkiye’s expectation that the talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan will result in a permanent peace treaty.

The two countries reached an agreement on this issue in 2023.

Armenia has completed the renovation work to make the border gate functional, but Türkiye has not yet taken any steps to implement this agreement.

Iran-Israel conflicts are also on the agenda

It is expected that all regional issues, especially the Israel-Iran conflict, will be discussed in the talks in Ankara.

Türkiye and Armenia, as two countries with land borders with Iran, are following developments very closely.

Projects that will increase connectivity among regional countries to ensure peace and stability in the South Caucasus and strengthen economic and trade relations are also expected to be on the agenda of the meeting.

Türkiye attaches great importance to transportation projects that will connect Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, both through the Middle Corridor.

It is among the assessments that the developments in Iran have created an important situation in terms of putting transportation lines through the South Caucasus into operation.