ISTANBUL: Historic rivals Turkey and Armenia have resumed their first commercial flights in two years as part of cautious efforts to normalize strained ties.
Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, a closed land border and a long history of hostility rooted in the mass killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
But in December, the two countries appointed special envoys to normalize relations, spurred by support from regional powerbroker Russia and Turkey’s ally — and Armenia’s arch-foe — Azerbaijan.
The special envoys met in Moscow last month for what they described as “constructive” talks.
The first flight run by Moldova’s low-cost carrier FlyOne, which has a branch in Armenia, was expected to land on Wednesday evening at Istanbul Airport from Yerevan.
Another flight run by Turkey’s Pegasus airline was due to take off from Istanbul’s second airport, known as Sabiha Gokcen, late on Wednesday, for the Armenian capital.
A Pegasus spokeswoman said the budget airline will fly three flights to and from Yerevan a week.
Aram Ananyan, FlyOne chief in Armenia, said there would be two weekly return flights between Yerevan and Istanbul.
Analysts called the resumption of flights a positive but cautious first step in the difficult journey of normalizing the sides’ acrimonious ties.
“This is of course good news but it’s also just a restoration of a previous situation,” Thomas De Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe think tank, said.