Turkey removed a restriction on direct trade with Armenia on Wednesday, in a symbolic move aimed at improving ties between two countries that have had no formal relations for years. Turkish officials said the change follows continued technical and bureaucratic efforts toward opening the shared border, which has been closed since the 1990s.
In a post on X, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said the governments were continuing work intended to open the border. He also described the specific trade update, saying that under a new arrangement shipments of goods from Turkey or Armenia through a third country may directly list their final destination or point of origin as Turkey or Armenia—an easing of a prior restriction on those designations.
Armenia welcomed the move. Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said the step was important toward full and normalized relations between the two countries, and that progress could logically continue through the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border and the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The Turkish-Armenian border closure dates to the 1990s, when the two neighbors entered a period of heightened tension rooted in historic grievances and regional alignment. Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan, which has been at odds with Armenia over the disputed territory internationally known as Nagorno-Karabakh, and the border shutdown took place in 1993.
The AP report said Turkish leaders have framed their border closure as solidarity with Baku during its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. It also described how Turkey backed Azerbaijan during a six-week conflict in 2020 involving ethnic Armenian forces supported by Armenia, a conflict in which Azerbaijan regained control of a significant part of the region and surrounding areas and used Turkish military equipment, including combat drones.
Beyond the current trade and border efforts, the relationship remains strained by disputes over the events of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey, when historians estimate 1.5 million Armenians died during massacres, deportations and forced marches. The report said historians widely view the event as genocide, while Turkey rejects the label, conceding that many died in that era but saying the death toll is inflated and that deaths resulted from civil unrest.
The latest trade step adds to recent signals of momentum: the report said Armenia and Turkey had agreed in late 2021 to work toward improving the relationship and appointed special envoys to discuss ways to reconcile and open the border. It said those efforts have helped lead to the resumption of direct flights and easing of some visa restrictions, setting the stage for Wednesday’s changes.