Turkey willing to consider ‘new page’ in ties with Armenia

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister says his country would be willing to assess requests for “a new page” in its relations with Armenia.

Binali Yildirim’s comments Friday were in response to reports that Armenia’s new prime minister, Nikol Pashinian, had called for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

Turkey and Armenia signed a deal in 2009 to establish diplomatic ties and open their common borders but the agreement later collapsed over Turkey and Azerbaijan’s insistence that Armenia withdraw from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh regions. Armenia’s demands that 1.5 million deaths under the Ottoman Empire be recognized as genocide have also driven a wedge between them.

Yildirim says “if Armenia abandons its hostile stance … if it wants to open a new page, we would look at the details and respond accordingly.”