AL-MONITOR LE 8 SEPTEMBRE 2025
The sixth round of Turkish-Armenian normalization talks will follow the Washington peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is expected to inject fresh momentum into reconciliation efforts.
ANKARA — Turkey and Armenia are expected to hold a new round of talks on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to normalize ties, a process that is gaining momentum after the Baku-Yerevan peace summit held at the White House last month.
Armenia’s special envoy to Turkey, Ruben Rubinyan, said earlier on Monday that he would meet with his Turkish counterpart, Serdar Kilic, in the coming days.
Turkish and Armenian delegations led by Kilic and Rubinyan will meet in Armenia on Wednesday, Al-Monitor has learned from a source familiar with the planning.
The meeting will mark the sixth round of talks between the two countries as part of efforts to normalize diplomatic relations.
Background: Normalization talks between Ankara and Yerevan were launched in January 2022 but have achieved little progress, as Ankara has long conditioned normalization with its eastern neighbor on progress in Armenia’s peace talks with Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close regional ally.
Turkey recognized Armenia’s independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, but the two countries have never established formal diplomatic ties. Ankara also sealed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Baku in its territorial disputes with Yerevan.
Why it matters: Wednesday’s talks will follow the Aug. 8 peace summit in Washington, hosted by US President Donald Trump, between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The two leaders signed a joint declaration outlining a prospective peace treaty.
Since Ankara has tied its normalization with Yerevan to Armenia’s peace talks with Azerbaijan, the process is set to accelerate after the Washington summit.
“The process is being carried out with consideration of other regional processes and the progress achieved within them,” a Turkish diplomatic source told Al-Monitor, making specific reference to developments in the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The two countries’ envoys last met in Armenia in July last year.
“The process is aimed at opening the Armenia-Turkey border and establishing diplomatic relations. That is the core of our discussions,” Rubinyan told journalists Monday.
The talks are also expected to focus on steps to deepen cooperation between Turkey and Armenia and strengthen mutual trust as a foundation for further normalization, according to the Turkish diplomatic source. In addition to diplomatic engagement, the two countries are engaging in talks on infrastructure projects, including improvements to railways and upgrades to border crossings.
In previous talks, the two countries had agreed to begin cross-border passages between Turkey and Armenia, but the decision has not yet been implemented, Rubinyan said Monday.
Know more: Prior to the normalization talks, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Pashinyan on Sept. 1 on the sidelines of an international summit in China. Erdogan welcomed the progress achieved in the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
At the Aug. 8 trilateral peace summit at the White House, Aliyev and Pashinyan also reached separate agreements with Washington. Under the deal, Armenia will lease the section of the Zangezur Corridor running through its Syunik region to a US company for 99 years, linking Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave on the Turkish border with the rest of Azerbaijan.
The corridor, officially renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity under the Washington agreements, is seen by Ankara as a critical gateway for pipelines, railways and roads connecting Turkey to the Caspian Basin, Central Asia and beyond.