ANKARA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye said Wednesday it had completed the bureaucratic procedures needed to begin direct trade with Armenia, marking a modest but important step toward easing decades of hostility between the neighboring countries.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said the measures were finalized earlier this week as part of a normalization process launched in early 2022. The move is among the clearest signs of progress in efforts to repair long-strained ties.
"Türkiye will continue contributing to the development of economic relations and broader regional cooperation for the benefit of all countries and peoples in the South Caucasus," Keceli said.
Under the new arrangement, goods transported between the two countries through a third country, usually Georgia, can now officially list "Armenia/Türkiye" as the destination or origin in customs documents. Previously, trade was largely carried out indirectly through intermediaries because the two countries did not have formal trade relations.
Keceli said technical and bureaucratic work to eventually open the shared land border was continuing. The border has been closed since 1993, when Ankara shut it in support of Azerbaijan during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Momentum toward normalization increased after a rare meeting in June 2025 between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Istanbul. The meeting was widely seen as a sign that both sides wanted to improve ties after earlier efforts failed in the late 2000s. Relations between the two countries have long been hurt by historical grievances.
The two countries have also taken symbolic steps to improve relations. On May 4, officials signed a memorandum in Yerevan to jointly restore the historic Ani Bridge, a Silk Road-era structure spanning the Akhuryan River, which forms part of the border between the two countries. ■
