Turkish Side Responds to Reports on the Opening of the Margara Border Checkpoint

The Turkish Presidential Office has announced that Azerbaijani media outlets are spreading misinformation regarding the opening of the Margara border checkpoint situated on the Armenian-Turkish border. The Directorate for Public Relations of the Presidential Office has denied the claims circulated by some Azerbaijani media.

“The assertion found in certain media that 'An unexpected move by Turkey: the border with Armenians has been opened, while Baku is unaware' is not true. The Ali Jan (Margara) border checkpoint has been opened solely to facilitate the passage of a humanitarian aid convoy from Armenia to Syria,” the statement read.

According to a decision by the Council of Ministers in 1992, the Ali Jan border checkpoint was designated as a Temporary Border Checkpoint exclusively for the transportation of humanitarian aid. A humanitarian aid convoy, consisting of four trucks, entered Turkey from the Ali Jan border checkpoint in Igdir province yesterday to deliver humanitarian assistance to Syria via the Hatay/Çilvegözü border checkpoint. It is expected that the trucks will arrive in Syria by noon tomorrow. The mentioned trucks will return to Armenia along the same route.

Since the catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey on February 6, 2023, trucks carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia have entered and exited the same border checkpoint twice on different dates with two separate convoys. On the other hand, the Ali Jan border checkpoint has also been used for mutual pedestrian crossings within the framework of the fifth round of negotiations held by special representatives for the border resolution process on July 30, 2024. Furthermore, this checkpoint has been utilized in the framework of upcoming meetings of the Turkey-Armenia border commissions regarding border issues.

During a meeting on February 24, 2025, Ambassador Serdar Kilic directly informed Azerbaijan's Ambassador Reshad Mammadov and Deputy Foreign Minister Hikmet Hajiyev about Armenia's desire to send humanitarian aid to Syria through our country, during their visit to our country on February 25,” the statement concluded.