Turkey, Armenia agree to restore medieval bridge in normalization push
Ankara is pursuing normalization with Armenia ahead of June parliamentary elections in a thaw also positioned to advance its broader Middle Corridor ambitions.
ANKARA — Turkey and Armenia have agreed to restore the medieval Ani Bridge in a fresh confidence-building step to accelerate normalization between the two countries as Ankara seeks to lock in progress ahead of Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections.
The agreement was signed in Yerevan by Turkey’s special representative for normalization with Armenia, Serdar Kilic, and his Armenian counterpart, Ruben Rubinyan, on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit, where Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The agreement reflects a broader effort to advance the long-stalled normalization process launched in 2022. It has gradually produced limited confidence-building steps including eased visa procedures, new Istanbul-Yerevan flights and discussions on opening the land border to third-country nationals.
Yilmaz’s visit marked the first high-level visit to Armenia in nearly two decades following former President Abdullah Gul’s visit to the country in 2008.
A long-sealed frontier: Built in the 10th century, the Ani Bridge once spanned the Arpacay River along what is now the closed Turkey-Armenia border. It was gradually destroyed between the 13th and 14th centuries due to invasions and earthquakes, and today only stone piers and arch remnants remain on the border, which has been shut since 1993.
The restoration deal comes amid broader normalization efforts launched in 2022, aimed at reopening the border and eventually establishing formal diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan.
Turkey recognized Armenia’s independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but the two countries never established diplomatic ties due to Ankara’s alignment with Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Election pressure: Yilmaz’s visit and the latest confidence-building steps come ahead of Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections. Ankara views Pashinyan as key to sustaining momentum in both Turkey-Armenia normalization and the parallel Armenia-Azerbaijan peace track.
According to Gallup International data released on April 30, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party leads with 26.7% of the vote, holding a narrow plurality that could put his single-party majority at risk in the upcoming election.
Separately, the two countries agreed in January to ease visa procedures for diplomatic, service and special passport holders through free e-visas. In March, Turkish Airlines launched daily Istanbul-Yerevan flights. The sides have also agreed in principle to open their land border to third-country nationals and diplomatic passport holders, though implementation has yet to take place. Construction at the Alican-Margara crossing, linking Turkey’s Igdir province to Armenia’s Armavir region, is now about 90% complete, according to Anadolu Agency.
Ankara’s Middle Corridor push: Turkey-Armenia normalization is unfolding alongside intensified US-led efforts to secure a comprehensive Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement and advance the so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik region. The two countries agreed to establish direct commercial links at an August peace summit in Washington hosted by President Donald Trump.
Amid Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the resulting supply disruptions, the initiative is being framed as part of the broader Middle Corridor, a trans-Caspian trade route linking China to Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Turkey that Ankara has long promoted as an alternative to routes running through Russia or Iran.
“As peace and normalization are achieved in the South Caucasus, first and foremost everyone living in this region will benefit. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey — all countries will come out as winners,” Yilmaz told journalists during the European Political Community summit in Yerevan on Monday.
The TRIPP initiative would effectively plug the South Caucasus into the Middle Corridor network by opening a direct east-west land bridge through Armenia. Its importance has grown further amid tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where disruptions have exposed the vulnerability of energy and trade routes reliant on the Gulf, increasing the strategic appeal of overland corridors that bypass maritime chokepoints.
