Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Monday, marking the highest-level visit by a Turkish official to Armenia since 2008, as the two countries continue cautious efforts to normalize relations.

Yılmaz is representing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the eighth European Political Community (EPC) summit in the Armenian capital, where leaders are gathering under the theme “Building the Future: Unity and Stability in Europe.”

In a statement on X, Yılmaz said he had a “comprehensive and productive” meeting with Pashinyan on behalf of Erdoğan, discussing bilateral ties and cooperation on transportation, customs, energy, digital infrastructure and connectivity.

He also welcomed “concrete progress” in the process of normalization, pointing to a memorandum of understanding signed for the joint restoration of the Ani Bridge, a medieval bridge over the Arpaçay/Akhurian River near the ruins of Ani that once connected Anatolia and the South Caucasus and today stands as a symbolic link on the closed Turkey-Armenia border.

The memorandum was signed under the auspices of Yılmaz and Pashinyan by Serdar Kılıç, Turkey’s special representative for the normalization process, and Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia’s special envoy.

Yılmaz’s visit is the highest-level trip by a Turkish official to Yerevan since then-president Abdullah Gül traveled to Armenia in 2008 during a period of so-called “football diplomacy.”

Gül attended a Turkey-Armenia World Cup qualifying match with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, in a visit that briefly raised hopes for reconciliation.

The latest diplomatic contact comes as Ankara and Yerevan have taken a series of steps to advance normalization, although their land border remains closed and Turkey continues to link further progress to a final peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has denied reports that Turkey’s land border with Armenia will reopen on June 4, saying there is not yet a timetable for opening the border, T24 reported.

Ministry sources told T24 that the process between Ankara and Yerevan has continued uninterrupted for four years with the goal of “full normalization” and that confidence-building steps have been taken in areas ranging from transportation and trade to culture and education.

They said preparatory work at the border was intended to allow any future decision to be implemented quickly but stressed that no date had been set.

“With the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the process our country is conducting with Armenia will gain momentum. Therefore, there is currently no timetable for the opening of the border gates,” the sources said.

The statement came after Turkish media reports claimed on Monday that the Turkey-Armenia land border could be opened on June 4, just days before Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections and while Yerevan hosts the EPC summit.

Turkey and Armenia have no formal diplomatic relations. Their border, including the Alican-Margara crossing linking Turkey’s Iğdır province with Armenia’s Armavir region, has been closed since 1993, when Ankara shut it in support of Azerbaijan during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war.

The crossing briefly reopened in 2023 to allow Armenian aid into Turkey following two powerful earthquakes on Feb. 6 and later hosted a round of normalization talks between the two countries’ special envoys.

A renewed normalization process was launched after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, which ended with Azerbaijan regaining control of territory it had lost in the 1990s. Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys, who held their first meeting in Moscow in January 2022.

The fifth round of talks between the special representatives was held at the Alican crossing on July 30, 2024.

As part of the process, the sides agreed on several confidence-building measures, including the start of direct flights, air cargo transport and the opening of the land border to third-country nationals and diplomatic passport holders, although the border remains closed.

The normalization process has also included recent talks on reopening the Kars-Gyumri railway, the only rail link between Turkey and Armenia. Turkish and Armenian officials met in Kars in late April to form a joint working group and said the line should be put back into operation as soon as possible.

The railway, once an important trade and transit route, has been idle since 1993, when the last train crossed the border during tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Recent momentum in Turkey-Armenia contacts has coincided with progress, but not a final agreement, between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries initialed a peace deal at a summit in Washington in August 2025, but the agreement has not yet been formally signed.

Azerbaijan has demanded changes to Armenia’s constitution before signing the final agreement, claiming that it contains claims against Azerbaijani territory. Pashinyan has pledged constitutional changes, but a possible referendum is expected to come after the June 7 elections.

The EPC summit is being chaired by European Council President António Costa and Pashinyan.