ANKARA — Turkish Airlines is planning to start flights to the Armenian capital Yerevan amid a thaw in relations between the neighbours after decades of tension.

In a filing on Tuesday, the airline expressed its desire to launch the route as long as there was enough demand for the service.

The announcement from Turkey’s flag carrier followed a meeting between the special envoys of both countries in Armenia on 12 September.

Turkey’s special envoy for normalisation with Armenia, Serdar Kılıç, arrived in the country’s eastern neighbour via the land border, which, more than three decades after being closed, remains shut to Turkish and Armenian civilians.

Following the meeting, the Armenian Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that the countries had agreed to “to carry out the necessary work for other interested companies to start flights to various destinations starting in the summer of 2026".

The countries, which still lack formal diplomatic ties, have been at odds for years over the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

While Yerevan calls it genocide, Ankara does not dispute that the killings took place but rejects the term, claiming the Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the empire collapsed during World War I.

As part of the reconciliation process, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan visited Ankara in June for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

If it launches flights to Yerevan, Turkish Airlines will not be the first carrier to resume air travel between the countries.

Pegasus Airlines of Turkey and FlyOne of Armenia started offering services between the countries in 2022. — Euronews