Armenian Premier Pashinyan extends congratulations on Turkish President Erdogan's victory

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his victory in Sunday's presidential runoff.

“Congratulations to President @RTErdogan on his re-election. Looking forward to continuing working together towards full normalisation of relations between our countries,” Pashinyan said on Twitter.

Pashinyan's remarks came amid Erdogan’s lead in the presidential runoff with 52.14% of the vote, while opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has 47.86%, with 99.43% of the votes counted, according to Ahmet Yener, chairman of the Supreme Election Council (YSK).

On May 14, no candidate won the required 50% in the first round, triggering the presidential runoff, although Erdogan took the lead with 49.52%. On that day Erdogan's electoral alliance also won a majority of seats in parliament.

Despite Türkiye being one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's independence in 1991, the two countries have been divided on a range of issues, including Yerevan's occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the events of 1915 during the Ottoman Empire, and the border closure between the two neighboring countries since 1993.

In 2021, Ankara and Yerevan appointed special representatives to work towards normalized ties.