The Armenian government announced that it would end its ban on the importation of Turkish goods that Yerevan implemented in response to Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s RFE/RL Armenian Service reported on Thursday.
“A decision was made not to extend the embargo on the import of Turkish goods into the country,” the Armenian Economy Ministry announced on Facebook.
The ban will be lifted on Saturday, New Year’s Day.
It was first imposed back in Dec. 31, 2020 for six months. However, in June 2021 it was extended for an additional six months.
The Economy Ministry told RFE/RL over two weeks ago that a draft decision for extending the ban was in the works but ultimately never made it onto the government agenda.
The Armenian government’s last cabinet meeting took place on Thursday. Following that meeting, the Economy Ministry released a statement revealing that interdepartmental discussions had ended with a decision not to extend the import embargo.
“We have received many statements and requests to lift the ban on the import of Turkish goods,” read a ministry statement.
Turkey gave extensive political and military support to Azerbaijan during the 2020 conflict, during which Baku reclaimed large parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh region from Armenia. Turkish-built Bayraktar TB2 drones supplied to the Azerbaijani military played a decisive role against Armenian ground forces in that conflict.
Last June, when announcing the extension of the import ban, Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said that Turkish imports since the imposition of the first ban dropped by about 70 percent. And while the import of raw materials continued almost no finished products were imported from Turkey during that period.