COP31: in Antalya, Nikol Pashinyan welcomed by Erdoğan and Guterres, with Ilham Aliyev also present
- Published
- Updated
- Place
- Antalya, Turkey
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Antalya, Turkey, on Wednesday 11 November for the leaders’ summit of the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31). At the opening of the summit, the Armenian prime minister was welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the conference host, and by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who arrived the day before at Erdoğan’s invitation, is also attending the summit. Pashinyan’s office has announced bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the conference, without saying with whom. Nothing so far points to talks with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or Ilham Aliyev. It is the prime minister’s third visit to Turkey, a country with which Armenia still has no diplomatic relations.
The prime minister’s plane landed in Antalya on Wednesday. At the airport, Nikol Pashinyan was received by Turkey’s Deputy Culture Minister Serdar Çam, his office said. He posted a video of his arrival himself.
A few hours later, at the conference centre, the scene was more symbolic: the Armenian head of government standing side by side with the Turkish president and the UN secretary-general in front of the blue COP31 backdrop. The two men were jointly welcoming heads of state and government.
Two arrivals, two protocols
Ilham Aliyev arrived on Tuesday 10 November at Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s personal invitation, the Azerbaijani presidency said. A guard of honour awaited him. He was welcomed by Binali Yıldırım, chairman of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States, by former Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, by several MPs and by the governor of Antalya.
The visit comes two days after Erdoğan’s trip to Shusha on 8 November. The two presidents displayed their unity there, after weeks of unusual tension, notably over restrictions on wearing the headscarf in Azerbaijani schools. Ilham Aliyev had skipped the Organization of Turkic States summit in Ankara on 30 October.
A border still closed
The Armenian-Turkish context gives weight to every gesture. The day before, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said his country had completed preparations to open the Alican road crossing and the railway to Gyumri. But he tied the opening of the border, closed since 1993, to a full agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, taking Baku’s “sensitivities” into account.
Turkey’s presence had been more low-key the other way round. In October, in Yerevan, Turkey was represented only by its agriculture minister at the COP17 biodiversity conference; neither Recep Tayyip Erdoğan nor Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan made the trip.
Update (11 November, 8pm Yerevan): Nikol Pashinyan and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan eventually held talks in the late afternoon on the sidelines of the summit. They discussed Armenia–Turkey normalisation, which they want to bring “to a logical conclusion”, trade and the TRIPP project. The prime minister also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. No meeting with Ilham Aliyev has been announced.
Analysis
Antalya offers a rare setting: the Armenian, Turkish and Azerbaijani leaders under the same roof, under the banner of a UN conference. For Nikol Pashinyan, being welcomed by Erdoğan is a sign of the normality he is trying to establish, just as Ankara says it is technically ready to open the border. But the difference in protocol between the two arrivals is a reminder of the hierarchy of Turkey’s alliances. The real test will be a bilateral meeting, with Erdoğan or with Aliyev. None has been announced. If one takes place, it will say more than the welcome photos.
Possible consequences
The leaders’ summit continues until 12 November. Any bilateral meetings held by the Armenian prime minister have not yet been made public.
