Armenia bans import of Turkish goods in 2021

Armenia will ban the import of Turkish goods for six months from January next year due to Ankara's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenian Economy Ministry said.

The decision will take effect on December 31, 2020, Interfax reports.

The document accuses the Turkish authorities of "undermining stability in the region." The Armenian Ministry of Economy believes that the ban on the import of Turkish goods "will prevent the penetration of various threats into the territory of Armenia."

"After this decision takes effect, there will be no shortage of products in Armenia, since it will be filled with imports from other countries and local production," the ministry added.

Last year, Armenia imported $268.1 million worth of goods from Turkey: clothes ($69.4 million), citrus fruits ($10.3 million), equipment and heating systems ($35.3 million), oil and petroleum products ($24.3 million), chemical products ($23.6 million), base metals ($21.6 million).

The Armenian armed forces committed a large-scale provocation, subjecting the positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive shelling from large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibers in the front-line zone on Sept. 27 at 05:00 (Msk). The command of the Azerbaijani Army decided to launch a counter-offensive operation of Azerbaijani troops along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population. To date, the city of Jabrayil and most of the Jabrayil district, the city of Hadrut, more than half of the Fizuli district were liberated in the south, and the strategically important Murovdag mountain and the so-called sixth fortified area around the village of Sugovushan in the north were liberated.

At the talks held at in Moscow, Baku and Yerevan agreed on a humanitarian ceasefire, which came into effect at 12:00 local time on October 10. Armenia violated ceasefire by shelling Azerbaijan's second-largest city of Ganja, which caused civilian casualties.