Armenian government’s ban on import of Turkish goods imposed during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh, has come into force on January 1, 2021.
On October 21, almost a month after Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey and Middle East mercenaries, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government imposed the six-month ban on imports of Turkish goods.
Armenia’s Retaliatory Trade Ban
The Armenian government said at that time that the measure was a retaliation to the Turkish authorities’ provocative calls, supply of arms to Azerbaijan and deployment of mercenaries from the Middle East to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, which undermined the stability in the region, including the international efforts to find a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
On December 25, 2020, Armenia’s State Revenue Committee (SRC) announced that the ban would not apply to goods imported before December 31, on condition that they had gone through customs clearance before that date and were intended for personal use
The State Revenue Committee said also that the ban would apply to all goods of Turkish origin re-imported from Georgia, Russia and other countries.
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Starting from today, importers must be prepared to produce documents indicating the “country of origin” of goods imported by them.
The SRC said it has enhanced customs control over these goods at all border check points.
Late in 2020 December Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said imports from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member countries, China, as well as from Georgia and the European Union should replace imports from Turkey.
According to government data, Armenia imported $268 million worth of Turkish-manufactured products in 2019 and $178 million worth of Turkish goods in January-October 2020, 15% down year on year. More precisely, $69.4 million worth clothing, $10.3 million worth citrus fruit, $35.2 million worth cars, equipment and mechanisms (electric heaters, refrigerators, etc.), $24.3 million worth oil and oil products, $23.6 million worth chemicals and $21.6 million worth base metals.
