Armenia`s NA Vice Speaker on  Armenian-Turkish border opening: Turkey  is reopening the Alijan checkpoint

ArmInfo.Turkey is reopening the Alijan checkpoint on the border with Armenia. Armenian Parliament Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan told to reporters at the National Assembly, referring to the agreements reached with Turkey regarding the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border to third-country  citizens and persons with diplomatic passports. The parliamentarian  recalled that the corresponding agreement between Yerevan and Ankara  was reached  in the summer of 2022.

"I can only report what is publicly known: Turkey is reopening the  Alijan checkpoint," he said, adding that he did not want to go into  details to avoid disrupting the process.

Rubinyan also mentioned Armenia's stance on opening the border with  Turkey, noting that Yerevan has always advocated for the complete  unblocking of the Armenian-Turkish border and the establishment of  diplomatic relations as soon as possible. "Nothing has changed in  this regard," the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament added.

Regarding the fact that Turkey continues to link the border opening  process with the normalization of Armenia's relations with  Azerbaijan, he noted that the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish  and the Armenian-Azerbaijani process are different  processes. "Since  they are occurring in the same region, they may be interconnected.  However, progress in the Armenian-Turkish peace process will not only  not hinder the Armenian-Azerbaijani process, but may even facilitate  it and give it new impetus," Rubinyan believes.

The Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament also noted that the  progress achieved in Armenian- Azerbaijani relations cannot be  overlooked, citing the Washington Declaration of August 8, 2025, the  partial lifting of the blockade, and other steps in this direction.  "Overall, all the processes are developing in a positive direction;  certain results have already been achieved, and new achievements are  expected," Rubinyan concluded.

Recall, Serdar K?l?c, Turkey's special representative in the  negotiations on the normalization of relations between Armenia and  Turkey, announced in January 2024 that Armenia and Turkey had reached  an agreement to give new impetus to efforts to open the border to  third-country nationals. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu  announced the launch of the normalization process on December 13,  2021. He emphasized that Ankara will work closely with Azerbaijan to  facilitate the normalization of relations with Armenia. Several  rounds of talks have since taken place between the special  representatives of Armenia and Turkey. The parties agreed in the  summer of 2022 to open the border to third-country nationals.   However, the border remains closed.