Turkey and Armenia agree to reopen their border for the passage of citizens of other countries

July 1 () –

Turkey and Armenia have agreed this Friday to reopen their border “as early as possible” to allow the free passage of citizens from other countries, as a preliminary step to the “total normalization” of their always volatile and complicated relations.

The border crossing had been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Turkey after the first Nagorno-Karabakh war. Relations between the two have always been a source of conflict, either because of Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in this conflict, or because of its refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide committed by the former Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a note this Friday informing that after the fourth meeting between the two delegations in Vienna, the capital of Austria, they have agreed to allow the crossing of the land border they share for citizens of third countries.

In the note, it is specified that the Turkish special envoy, the diplomat Serdar Kilic, and the vice president of the Parliament of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan, have agreed to start “as soon as possible” direct air cargo trade between the two countries, as well as ” other possible concrete steps” to normalize relations.

Both “have emphasized” the agreement to continue with this process “without preconditions”, after the two countries reestablished their diplomatic ties in December 2021 after a rupture of three decades.