Turkish Vice President arrives in Armenia to participate in 8th  European Political Community Summit

ArmInfo. Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz arrived in Armenia to participate in the 8th European Political Community Summit in Yerevan. He was met at the Yerevan  airport by Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Ruben Rubinyan.

Turkologist Varzhuna Geghamyan noted in this regard that Turkish  official media, as well as some influential publications, are  presenting Yilmaz's visit as "the first visit of this level." He  added that this phrasing lends a certain historicity to the Turkish  figure's visit and presents it as "an important step, marking a new  stage" in the Armenian-Turkish dialogue. "It should also be noted  that until recently, Turkish media outlets noted that if President  Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not participated in the Yerevan summit,  Turkey would not have been represented at any other level, as the  rules only allow for heads of state," the expert recalled.

Geghamyan further noted that the position of Vice President of Turkey  was created in 2018, when the country completed the transition from a  parliamentary to a presidential system of government. Therefore, from  a purely factual standpoint, Y?lmaz's visit is the first of its kind.

"However, he is by no means the highest-ranking Turkish official to  visit Armenia since 1991. It's enough to recall that in December  2013, influential figure and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet  Davutoglu, who became Turkey's prime minister a year later, visited  Armenia. Even earlier, in September 2008, Turkish President Abdullah  Gul made a working visit to Yerevan. The latter's visit was truly  historic not only in terms of the formality of his assumption of the  presidency, but also in terms of Gul's real weight in the Turkish  political arena and the scale of the Armenian-Turkish 'football  diplomacy' that was taking place at the time," the Turkologist  emphasized.

Geghamyan noted that, unlike Gul or Davutoglu, Y?lmaz is considered a  figure completely dependent on Erdogan, lacking his own political  trajectory and independent influence. According to him, therefore, in  this sense, Y?lmaz's visit to Yerevan is difficult to evaluate as  historic, much less a turning point. The Armenian expert also  hastened to note that just last year, Armenia visited Turkey with a  much higher level of representation (Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia N. Pashinyan visited Istanbul on a working visit in June  2025, and Speaker of the National Assembly A. Simonyan visited  Istanbul on a working visit in April 2026), in response to which the  Turkish visit cannot be considered equivalent.

"From this perspective, it is worth recalling that Prime Minister  Pashinyan personally invited President Erdogan to Yerevan. Both  Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declined the  invitation, continuing the trend of recent decades," the Turkologist  noted.

He also noted that, according to Turkish media, a bilateral meeting  between the Turkish official and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan is expected in Yerevan. "Nothing is known about the  meeting's agenda, but given that one of the stated topics of the  conference itself is transport accessibility, and Yilmaz himself  frequently speaks of the so-called 'Zangezur Corridor,' it's possible  that the Turkish politician's agenda will also include presenting the  Turkish perspective on this issue.

It should be noted that Turkish Vice President J. Yilmaz, since his  appointment to the post in June 2023, has always been one of the key  figures responsible for Ankara's relations with Azerbaijan, and his  rhetoric is based on official propaganda statements established  within the framework of relations between the two countries,"  Geghamyan noted. According to him, Yilmaz is apparently also involved  in promoting another expansionist agenda against Armenia, the  so-called "Western Azerbaijan."