Turkey has removed a bureaucratic barrier to direct trade with Armenia, a symbolic gesture aimed at improving ties between the two historically hostile neighbors. The change, announced Wednesday by Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli, allows shipments passing through third countries to now list Turkey or Armenia as their final destination or point of origin, lifting a previous restriction on such designations.
“In the light of the historic opportunity seized to strengthen lasting peace and prosperity in the South Caucasus, Türkiye will continue to contribute to the development of economic relations in the region and to further advancing cooperation for the benefit of all countries and peoples of the region,” Keçeli wrote, using the government’s preferred spelling for the country.
Armenia welcomed the development. “We would like to emphasise that this is an important step toward the establishment of full and normalised relations between the two countries, which could logically continue through the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border and the establishment of diplomatic relations,” Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ani Badalyan said on X.
A Long-Standing Rivalry
Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic relations, and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. The animosity stems from a combination of historical grievances and Turkey’s close alliance with Azerbaijan. In 1993, Turkey shut its border with Armenia in solidarity with Baku, which was then locked in a conflict with Yerevan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The two countries agreed in late 2021 to explore reconciliation, appointing special envoys to discuss opening the border and normalizing ties. Those efforts have already led to the resumption of direct flights and the easing of some visa restrictions. Keçeli also noted that technical and bureaucratic work aimed at opening the shared border is ongoing.
The recent trade measure is the latest step in a gradual thaw. However, significant obstacles remain, particularly Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan. In 2020, Ankara strongly backed Baku during a six-week conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which saw Azerbaijan regain control of large parts of the region and the departure of most ethnic Armenians. Turkish military equipment, including combat drones, was used in that campaign.
Beyond the Karabakh issue, the relationship is burdened by the legacy of the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 under the Ottoman Empire. Historians widely consider these events a genocide, a term Turkey rejects, arguing that the deaths occurred amid the broader chaos of World War I.
For Armenia, the normalization process is also part of a broader geopolitical pivot. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has increasingly sought closer ties with the European Union, as he declared Karabakh 'was not ours' in a shift away from Moscow’s orbit. The EU has shown interest in supporting this rapprochement, though internal divisions over direct talks with Russia on the Ukraine war complicate the bloc’s engagement in the region.
The trade restriction removal is a modest but concrete signal that both Ankara and Yerevan are willing to move beyond rhetoric. Whether it leads to the full reopening of the border and the establishment of diplomatic relations will depend on whether they can navigate the deeper historical and geopolitical currents that have kept them apart for decades.
