Turkish, Armenian peace envoys to use common land border in symbolic breakthrough

In a symbolic breakthrough, the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey for normalizing relations between the historically hostile neighbors will meet July 30 on their land border that has remained sealed since 1993, the Armenian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

Ambassador Serdar Kilic of Turkey and Ruben Rubinyan of Armenia will meet initially on the Armenian side of the border and then continue on the Turkish side, according to Turkish media reports. It will mark the first time that citizens from either country will use the land border in keeping with Turkish pledges to allow third country nationals and those holding diplomatic passports to do so. The measure was meant to come into effect in January, but Turkey kept stalling.

The special representatives have not met formally since July 2022, because Turkey had not yielded until now to Armenia’s demands that the meeting take place with the sides using the land border. The border gates were opened only once since the closure, in February 2023, when Armenian trucks carrying aid for victims of the massive earthquakes that shook southern Turkey were let through.

Hints of a breakthrough came last week when Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan toured the newly refurbished Margara checkpoint on the Armenian side of the border.