Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the Turkish House in New York on Tuesday, September 24, on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The closed-door meeting took place at the Turkish House, a 561-foot-high, 36-floor skyscraper located directly across from the United Nations headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The Turkish House serves as the headquarters for multiple Turkish diplomatic missions in New York City, including the Consulate General and the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN, and functions as a center for Turkish cultural activity.
During the meeting, issues concerning the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, as well as the ongoing peace processes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, were discussed, according to Turkish media reports. Erdogan emphasized Turkey’s support for establishing lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and highlighted the significant progress made in normalizing relations between Ankara and Yerevan without putting forward preconditions. He expressed his readiness to sincerely support the continuation of the dialogue between the two countries.
Erdogan also stressed that, at this new stage, Turkey remains committed to ensuring permanent peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and to continuing efforts in this direction. He reiterated Turkey’s support for fostering a robust friendship between the two nations in the period ahead.
The Armenian delegation included Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan, and the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan. Footage from the meeting was published on Prime Minister Pashinyan’s Facebook page. No further information about the discussions between Erdogan and Pashinyan has been released by the Armenian side thus far.
During their meeting, Erdogan presented Pashinyan with a copy of his 2021 book, “A Fairer World Is Possible.”
Notably, in 2023, the Turkish House became a focal point in a high-profile FBI investigation into New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign. The corruption investigation, led by the FBI and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is scrutinizing alleged corruption, including the use of straw donors by the Turkish government through KSK Construction to funnel donations to Adams’s campaign. Adams’s fundraising efforts have previously attracted scrutiny, particularly for his connections with Turkish interests. In 2015, the Turkish consulate-general funded a trip for Adams to Turkey, and after securing the Democratic mayoral primary in 2021, Adams reportedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to allow occupancy of the Turkish House despite unresolved fire safety concerns.
The investigation escalated in November 2023 when the FBI raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, Adams’s chief fundraiser, seizing multiple electronic devices and documents. Subsequent searches targeted additional locations, including the residences of former Turkish Airlines executive Cenk Ã-cal and Adams’s international affairs aide Rana Abbasova. Investigators also questioned former New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro regarding the approval of the Turkish House. Furthermore, the FBI is probing flight upgrades that Adams allegedly received on Turkish Airlines, which may have been linked to his relationship with Turkish officials.
