Armenia–Turkey border: Ankara says it is ready to open the Alican road crossing and the rail link
- Published
- Place
- Margara, Armenia – Alican, Turkey
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
Turkey has completed preparations to open its two crossing points with Armenia: the Alican road crossing, opposite Margara, and the railway crossing. Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said so on Tuesday, 10 November, speaking to journalists, according to Azerbaijan’s APA news agency. He said he had discussed it directly with his Armenian counterpart. “If mutual agreement is reached, I do not think the process will take long,” he added, saying Ankara would take Azerbaijan’s “sensitivities” into account. He hopes the crossings will open “in the near future”. On the Armenian side, the Margara checkpoint has already been renovated and re-equipped. The border has been closed since 1993. The statement comes on the eve of Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Antalya.
“Time is working in our favour,” Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said. The minister says he meets his Armenian counterpart in person on the issue. He gave no date or timetable.
The railway crossing is on the Kars–Gyumri line, idle since the border closed. The road crossing links Alican, on the Turkish side, to Margara in Armenia’s Armavir province.
Margara, ready since the summer
Yerevan has done its part. In August 2026, State Revenue Committee chairman Eduard Hakobyan said the renovated and re-equipped Margara checkpoint was ready to operate. It has already been used on occasion: in February 2023, Armenian humanitarian aid trucks crossed it after the earthquake that struck Turkey.
On 5 November, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said the border could open and diplomatic relations be established “at any moment”. He also said bilateral trade is now cleared through customs directly, even though goods still transit through Georgia.
Baku in the background
The caveat about Azerbaijan is not a detail. Ankara closed the border in 1993, in solidarity with Baku during the first Karabakh war. Since then, Turkey has tied normalisation with Yerevan to progress in the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process.
In the same remarks, Uraloğlu mentioned the transit route across southern Armenia that Baku and Ankara call the “Zangezur corridor”. Turkey plans to complete and open all its sections “in about four years”.
Analysis
Ankara is sending a clear but conditional signal. Technically, everything is ready on both sides. Politically, the key remains in Baku, and the Turkish minister says so plainly. For Armenia, an open border would change a lot. Lorries would no longer have to go through Georgia, and trains could run again between Gyumri and Kars. Pashinyan’s visit to Antalya on Wednesday will show whether the “near future” gets a date.
Possible consequences
Nikol Pashinyan is expected in Antalya on Wednesday, 11 November, for the COP31 leaders’ summit, his third visit to Turkey. Neither Ankara nor Yerevan has announced an opening date.
