TURKEY PERSPECTIVE

Ankara, June 7. The Turkish press covers the Armenian elections with an attention few other Muslim-majority countries grant the Caucasus. Daily Sabah headlines 'Armenia heads to polls as Yerevan looks West at Russia's expense' and notes that Pashinyan frames the vote as a choice 'between a lasting peace with Azerbaijan or a return to war.' The paper recalls the Armenian defeat in Karabakh in 2023 and the European integration path adopted. Anadolu Agency, the Turkish state agency, publishes a long interview titled 'Pashinyan's Real Armenia at center of high-stakes election' with Sargis Khandanyan, chair of Armenia's parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Relations: 'These elections are a referendum on how the peace process and foreign policy are being perceived by the public.' Khandanyan details that Pashinyan explicitly champions 'normalization of ties with neighboring Türkiye.' The Turkish angle is unique: Yerevan and Ankara, separated for a century by the memory of the Armenian genocide, are actively negotiating the reopening of the border. BBC Turkish dispatches its Caucasus correspondent Rayhan Demytrie to Yerevan for field reporting — a rare level of Turkish coverage for a foreign election. Bianet, an independent Turkish outlet, publishes the key numbers in two successive dispatches: 1,476,597 votes cast out of 2,503,976 registered, or 58.97% turnout — above the 2018 and 2021 votes. For Ankara, watching Pashinyan negotiate in parallel with Baku (Turkish ally) and Brussels, the Armenian vote is also a stage in its own regional strategy: if Pashinyan wins, Turkey-Armenia normalization accelerates; if he loses, it stalls. Erdogan called Pashinyan on June 3, per Gulf Times — shortly before the vote.