Pashinyan announced the opening of the border with Turkey
In the near future, Armenia expects the opening of the border with Turkey, as well as railway communication with Azerbaijan, said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on May 25, Armenian political scientists pointed out that the prospect of opening the border with Turkey has become part of the election campaign of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and has caused disputes in society. On May 24, Pashinyan announced the possibility of exporting and importing goods by rail between Georgia and Turkey, and Turkey's special representative called this a step towards establishing direct trade between Turkey and Armenia. On May 18, an Azerbaijani diplomat stated that the land borders of Armenia with Turkey and Azerbaijan could be opened after the elections and the constitutional referendum.
In the near future, alongside the development of the TRIPP project, Armenia expects the opening of the border with Turkey, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on October 6 at the Armenian-British business forum in Yerevan, as reported by the news agency "News Armenia".
"In the near future, alongside the development of the TRIPP project, we expect the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border, as well as, accordingly, the opening of railway communication Armenia – Azerbaijan and Armenia – Turkey," News.am quoted Pashinyan today.
As a result of the implementation of TRIPP, railway communication between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea should also be established. Alongside the railway, the opening of roads in the East – West direction is planned, and the possibilities of constructing an oil pipeline, gas pipeline, and power lines are also being discussed, the Prime Minister added.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that cargo transportation to Armenia transiting through Azerbaijan has become regular. Thus, on August 22, nine wagons of wheat and a wagon of propane from Russia were sent to Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan.
It should be noted that the land border between Armenia and Turkey has been closed since 1993: Ankara closed it during the Karabakh conflict in support of Azerbaijan. One of the key disagreements between the countries remains the assessment of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, which Yerevan considers the Armenian genocide, while the Turkish authorities disagree with this interpretation.
In October 2009, Armenia and Turkey signed protocols in Zurich to establish diplomatic relations, which included the opening of a common border, but they were not ratified, and in 2018 Yerevan declared them annulled. A new normalization process began in late 2021 – early 2022 with the appointment of special representatives from both countries and negotiations between them.
In June 2023, Pashinyan flew to Ankara to attend the inauguration ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He became the first leader of Armenia to visit Turkey in 15 years. Yerevan is primarily interested in economic cooperation with Turkey, while Ankara seeks recognition of the Kars Treaty from Yerevan and to secure the territories ceded to Turkey under it, Armenian political scientists and Turkologists interviewed by "Caucasian Knot" noted. On July 30, a meeting of Armenian and Turkish special representatives on the normalization of relations took place at the border of the two countries, but political scientists assessed the agreements reached as insignificant and doubted the imminent improvement of relations. They noted that the opening of borders and the establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey is linked by Ankara to Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations.