President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held in-depth talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Istanbul in a meeting described as a historic step toward regional peace.
The talks between the two leaders took place at Dolmabahce Palace on Friday and lasted just over an hour, Turkish presidency office said.
Türkiye will support Armenia's peace efforts with Azerbaijan, Erdogan's office said after the rare bilateral visit.
Erdogan's office said the pair had discussed the recent explosion of violence between Israel and Iran, which shares border with both Türkiye and Armenia.
"President Erdogan emphasised the significance of the consensus reached in the ongoing peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, given the current circumstances," and said Türkiye would continue to "provide full support to efforts aimed at developing the region with a 'win-win' approach".
They also addressed "potential steps to be taken within the framework of the normalisation process between Türkiye and Armenia", it said.
Erdogan also told Pashinyan that Türkiye was taking "all diplomatic means to ensure stability, not only in the Caucasus but across the entire region", notably engaging with other leaders "to avert the risks" posed by Iran-Israel standoff.
Pashinyan hails talks with Erdogan
In a post on X, Pashinyan said he had an "in-depth exchange" with Erdogan at which they "discussed the Armenia-Türkiye normalisation process, regional developments, and the importance of sustained dialogue".
He reassured the Turkish leader that Armenia was "committed to building peace and stability in our region".
Ahead of the meeting, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters: "This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkey at this level."
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had on Thursday travelled to Türkiye to meet Erdogan.
He hailed the two nations' "significant" alliance in a meeting at which the Turkish leader reiterated his backing for "the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia".
Pashinyan has actively sought to normalise relations with both Baku and Ankara.
"Pashinyan is very keen to break Armenia out of its isolation and the best way to do that is a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and a normalisation agreement with Türkiye," Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, told AFP.
He has visited Türkiye only once before, for Erdogan's 2023 inauguration.
Ankara and Yerevan named special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalisation process, a year after Armenia's defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over the Karabakh region.
A year later, Türkiye and Armenia resumed commercial flights after a two-year pause.
