Armenian official rejects suggestions Armenia-Türkiye border opening has stalled

Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan rejected suggestions that the process of opening the Armenia-Türkiye border has stalled.

“Armenia’s border with Türkiye is open. The process has not stopped; it has slowed down. I tend to associate this more with the completion of the processes between Armenia and Azerbaijan and reaching the point of no return, which, in my assessment, is definitely a matter for the near future,” he said at a press briefing.

“I mean both the point of no return, which we crossed long ago in terms of peace, and the issue of opening the border. There is no reason for me to think that this issue will not be resolved or will be delayed further,” Simonyan said.

The Security Council Secretary added that work is also underway on the Turkish side aimed at restoring infrastructure in this direction.

“We also hold meetings, and our businesspeople go there. It is a process that is progressing positively,” Simonyan said.

Türkiye unilaterally closed its land border with Armenia in 1993. The two countries have intensified normalization efforts in recent years, and Armenia has said it stands ready for Türkiye to open the border at any time. The border checkpoints have been upgraded and are ready to operate.

On September 22, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his address to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York that Türkiye and Armenia had made progress in the process of normalizing bilateral relations.