Türkiye supports normalising trade and transport ties with Armenia and wants to maintain the positive momentum in bilateral relations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Erdogan and Pashinyan met at the Turkish House, or Turkevi, in New York on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, according to Türkiye's Communications Directorate.
The two leaders discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues.
Erdogan said Türkiye welcomed reciprocal steps in the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He also said growing cooperation between Türkiye and Armenia within international organisations was contributing to the normalisation process.
Erdogan invited Pashinyan to attend the COP31 Leaders' Summit in Türkiye.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also attended the meeting.
Türkiye and Armenia have had no diplomatic or commercial ties since 1993, when Ankara closed its border and severed relations after Armenian forces occupied Azerbaijani territory in and around Karabakh.
The normalisation process was relaunched following the 2020 Karabakh war and formally resumed in 2022, with a series of confidence-building measures including the launch of direct Turkish Airlines flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, a visa facilitation agreement for diplomatic passport holders, and the completion of bureaucratic preparations for direct trade.
Construction at the Alican-Margara border crossing linking Türkiye's Igdir province with Armenia's Armavir region is now around 90 percent complete, while the two sides have also agreed to restore the Ani Bridge along their shared border, a step diplomats describe as both symbolic and concrete.
