Armenian and Turkish leaders have agreed to continue dialogue between the two countries in a rare phone call on June 5.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion of Muslim holiday of Kurban, while Erdogan congratulated Pashiyan on the upcoming summit of the European Political Community to be held in Yerevan in spring 2026, according to a statement from the Armenian government.
The leaders reiterated their commitment to continue dialogue despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties. The call comes a month after the two men had a brief exchange during the European Political Community, EPC, summit in Albania. Erdogan and Pashinyan last had a full meeting in September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly summit in New York.
The two men first spoke by phone in July 2022 after the two countries’ special envoys announced a plan to re-open the two countries’ borders that had remained closed for three decades. The opening of borders is part of the efforts to unfreeze the diplomatic ties.
Speaking to Parliament on Friday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said although the two countries did not have diplomatic ties, “today dialogue is more active and effective than that between some countries which do.” “And of course, those who say it is time for this dialogue to yield tangible results are right,” Mirzoyan went on saying.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijani in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993. Among other disputed issues between Armenia and Turkey are Ankara’s refusal to recognize Armenian genocide.
