Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has condemned the burning of a Turkish flag during a march in Yerevan marking the 111th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, calling the act provocative and likely to fuel tensions, according to Armenian media reports.
The incident took place on Thursday, on the eve of April 24, which is marked as Genocide Remembrance Day, during a procession organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF-Dashnaktsutyun).
Pashinyan described the act as “clearly provocative and tension-inciting behavior,” his press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, said in remarks to the state-run Armenpress news agency.
She added that the prime minister considers such actions “irresponsible and unacceptable.”
“The burning of the flag of an internationally recognized state, especially a neighboring country, cannot be assessed any differently by the head of state,” Baghdasaryan said.
Armenia has long sought international recognition that the mass killings under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 amounted to a genocide, saying 1.5 million people died.
Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.
The condemnation came as Armenia and Turkey have taken limited steps in recent years toward normalizing relations despite longstanding tensions.
The two countries have no diplomatic ties, and their land border has remained closed since 1993.
In 2021 Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys to explore a path toward reconciliation.
Direct commercial flights resumed in 2022 after a two-year suspension, and the sides have since introduced confidence-building measures, including agreements to allow air cargo trade and to open the land border to third-country nationals, although the crossing has yet to become operational.
As of early 2026 the two governments also introduced simplified visa procedures for holders of diplomatic, service and special passports.
Despite these steps, normalization remains limited, with contacts continuing through diplomatic channels and international meetings.
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