Opening of Turkey's Border and Quadrilateral Agreement in Tehran

According to Auroranews, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is actively negotiating with Turkish authorities regarding the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border in the coming months. Our sources indicate that in the first phase of the border opening, Armenia will have the opportunity to export goods to Europe via Turkish territory.

In this context, it is noteworthy that on January 27 of this year, in Ankara, the special representative for the Turkey-Armenia normalization process, Ambassador Serdar Kilic, received the head and members of the management board of the Kars Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with Aishe Uzur, Deputy Director of the Caucasus and Central Asia division of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, and other representatives of the ministry. According to the official statement, the main agenda item of the gathering was the opening of the “Eastern Gate” border crossing located in the Akhalkalaki region of Kars.

On January 23, Armenian National Assembly Speaker Ruben Rubinyan mentioned in a conversation with reporters that Armenia is ready to open its borders with Turkey without preconditions as early as tomorrow.

Officials view the opening of the border with Turkey for export purposes as an alternative to the Upper Lars checkpoint, fully aware that active trade with the EAEU is not feasible while moving toward the European Union. According to Auroranews, the opening of the road with Turkey will not be the only alternative to Upper Lars. Specifically, sources report that a quadrilateral meeting will take place on February 25 in Tehran, involving high-ranking officials from Armenia, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, with a focus solely on logistics and trade issues. The signing of an agreement on Armenia-Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan trade is anticipated.