The Turkish Vice President’s visit to Yerevan this week marked a “turning point” in bilateral ties, Türkiye’s special envoy for normalisation with Armenia has said.
Serdar Kılıç said the visit by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz - the first of its kind since 2008 - demonstrated “how far Türkiye-Armenia relations have come”.
“A vice president of Türkiye came to Yerevan for a conference, was warmly received, and held important meetings,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a significant visit and a turning point,” he added.
Kılıç made the remarks on the sidelines of the two-day Yerevan Dialogue 2026 conference, currently under way in the Armenian capital.
On Monday, Yılmaz travelled to Armenia to attend a major European summit, becoming the highest-ranking Turkish official to visit the country since former president Abdullah Gül in 2008.
During the visit, Yılmaz met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, after which an agreement was signed to jointly restore an ancient bridge located on the Türkiye-Armenia border.
The agreement was signed by Kılıç and his Armenian counterpart, Ruben Rubinyan.
In a subsequent social media post, Yılmaz said he and Pashinyan had discussed bilateral ties, as well as potential joint initiatives in transport, customs, energy and digital infrastructure.
He also described the bridge agreement as a sign of “concrete cooperation” between the two countries that would contribute to building “lasting peace and an environment of trust.”
The Türkiye-Armenia normalisation process was launched in 2022 with the aim of restoring bilateral ties after decades of mutual animosity.
“If someone had told us in January 2022 that we would reach this point today, no one would have believed it,” Kılıç said.
He added: “In a very short time, we have taken significant steps.”
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