RA premier for contacts between Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish  officials to be considered part of everyday life

ArmInfo.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan advocated for contacts between Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish officials to be considered part of everyday  life, and expressed hope that regular flights would soon connect the  Armenian city of Gyumri with Turkey.

In a conversation with journalists on April 18 after a cabinet  meeting, referring to the increasing frequency of visits by Armenian  government officials to Turkey, Pashinyan said, in particular: "The  time has come for contacts between Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish  officials to be part of our daily work."

Regarding progress in opening the Armenian-Turkish border, Pashinyan  noted that he had nothing new to say. "However, everything I said  before is consistent with this logic. The work is proceeding as  usual, and we are trying to find opportunities and develop relations  in various areas. If I'm not mistaken, Turkish Airlines has begun  flights to the Republic of Armenia, and we reached this agreement  during a meeting with the Turkish President in China, when he said  that if Armenia doesn't object, Turkish Airlines can operate flights  to Yerevan. We hope that one of the Turkish airlines will also begin  flights from Gyumri Airport in the near future. The process is  ongoing. The question for me is not whether the border will open and  whether a peace agreement will be signed between Armenia and  Azerbaijan, but when? We are working to ensure that this happens as  soon as possible," he said.

Turkish Airlines began operating flights to Istanbul, Turkey, on  March 11, 2026. As early as the fall of 2025, plans to launch such  flights were announced, subject to demand.

The launch of the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey  was announced on December 13, 2021, by then-Turkish Foreign Minister  Mevlut Cavusoglu. He emphasized that Ankara would coordinate with  Azerbaijan on steps to normalize relations with Armenia. The parties  appointed special representatives of Turkey and Armenia for the  normalization process, Serdar K?l?c and Ruben Rubinyan. They have  already held several rounds of negotiations, but have not yet  achieved any breakthroughs, other than the launch of air cargo and  passenger services.