YEREVAN (Combined Sources) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the inauguration of Turkey’s newly reelected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on June 3.
Erdogan had won the runoff on May 28.
Pashinyan, who is accused by his political opponents of making unilateral concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan, rushed to congratulate Erdogan on winning reelection in a run-off vote on May 28. He said he hopes to continue “working together towards full normalization of relations between our countries.”
Erdogan’s first presidential inauguration in 2014 was attended by then Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.
Turkey has since continued to make the opening of the border and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia conditional on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. Turkish leaders have repeatedly reaffirmed this precondition since the start of the normalization talks with Yerevan in January 2022.
Pashinyan was welcomed by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at the presidential complex. There, he met with many leaders, including Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev.
