Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, launched first-ever regular flights to Armenia on Wednesday in a move seen as another step towards the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.
Its inaugural flight from Istanbul to Yerevan was followed by an official welcoming ceremony at the Zvartnots international airport attended by a deputy head of the Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Committee, Stepan Payaslian.
Flights between the two cities were until now carried out by other, smaller Turkish carriers. Turkish Airlines will fly to the Armenian capital on a daily basis.
The company announced plans to launch an Istanbul-Yerevan flight service in October shortly after a senior Turkish diplomat, Serdar Kilic, visited Armenia for talks with his Armenian opposite number, Ruben Rubinian. The two men pledged to speed up the implementation of agreements reached by them in 2022.
One of those agreements calls for the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. Ankara is reportedly planning to do that ahead of Armenia’s parliamentary elections slated for June.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned the elections and praised Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in that context earlier this year. Armenian opposition leaders responded by accusing Ankara of meddling in Armenia’s internal affairs. Pashinian’s political allies insisted that Fidan did not endorse the Armenian leader.
Even before Fidan’s statement, Pashinian’s political opponents claimed that Turkey and Azerbaijan will go to great lengths to help his Civil Contract party win the polls. They have for years said that Pashinian is making unilateral concessions to the two Turkic allies in hopes of clinging to power. The premier’s political team denies this.
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