Turkish Airlines flight © Onnik James Krikorian 2019
Though it had been announced in early December that direct cargo flights would start between Armenia and Turkey by the end of last year, the apparent deadlock in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, as well as the impasse between Yerevan, Baku, and Stepanakert on the Lachin Corridor, hardly prepared anyone for such an eventuality. However, a news report published by the Andalou News Agency on 6 January 2023 confirmed that Ankara had indeed given the go-ahead for such flights starting 1 January.
The news follows that of the resumption of direct passenger flights between Yerevan and Istanbul in February last year, though not part of the slow but renewed attempt to normalise relations between the two countries following the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan war.
The same day as the 6 January announcement, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that direct cargo flights could now operate while Turkish media reported that this came as a result of direct negotiations between the Armenian and Turkish Special Envoys, Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic. Armenian MFA spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan also said that Yerevan hoped that another decision taken by Yerevan and Ankara in December as part of the normalisation process would become reality.
“We expect that the other agreement, ensuring the possibility of crossing the land border for citizens of third countries, will also be implemented as soon as possible,” he told media.
Nonetheless, it should be noted that while no air freight company has announced that it will operate the Armenia-Turkey route at time of writing, and it is still believed that further progress will be dependent on parallel developments in the Armenia-Azerbaijan process too, though it can only be hoped that they start sooner rather than later. Incidentally, it remains unclear whether Ankara’s decision indicates that some backdoor diplomacy between Yerevan and Baku has continued despite the standoff in Lachin.
At any rate, and reminiscent of the start of the last ill-fated normalisation process in 2009, it also comes just two and half months before the Armenian and Turkish national football teams are due to face each other in their first UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match in late March 2023. Tons of old posts from the 2008-2009 Armenia-Turkey normalisation process to transfer here, but for now, another one, this time from the Margara crossing, close to Yerevan.
