Armenia closes its market in response to opening of borders

Turkish goods will remain banned in Armenia at least until the end of the year, and most likely, the embargo will be maintained until Armenian importers replace them with goods from other countries or establish domestic production, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said.

"I think we will extend the ban for another six months, unless, of course, the diplomatic or geopolitical environment makes it impossible. If possible, we will extend it. Our enterprises, which have already started the import substitution process, need time to create competitive goods," Sputnik Armenia cited him as saying.

Thus, Armenia chose to respond to the post-war process of unblocking the borders in the South Caucasus for the free movement of people and goods by closing the domestic market from producers from the neighboring country, despite the fact that during the years of the Karabakh war, Turkish goods were freely supplied to Armenian counters through Georgia.

In addition, Kerobyan clarified, commenting on reports that Turkish goods are still sold in Armenia, that anti-Turkish sanctions do not apply to raw materials for Armenian enterprises - they were introduced only against end products. The minister added that the list of the embargo includes elevators that Armenia also imported from Turkey - Yerevan intends to replace them with Belarusian-made elevators.