Turkey Moves to Normalize Armenia Ties in Bid to Please Biden | New Eastern Politics

Turkey Moves to Normalize Armenia Ties in Bid to Please Biden - Bloomberg

Turkey’s surprise overture is in line with a request by President Joe Biden, who urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during an October meeting in Rome to open the country’s border with landlocked Armenia, a senior Turkish official previously told Bloomberg. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to protest Armenia’s war with Azerbaijan at the time, which ended a year later.

Turkey hopes that taking steps to normalize ties with Armenia will help Ankara improve its strained relations with Washington over its purchase of Russia air defenses.