Armenia-Turkey Crossing Opened First Time In 35 Years: The border crossing between Armenia and Turkey was opened on Saturday (February 11) amidst relief work after the devastating earthquake. It is being told that this is the first time in 35 years that this crossing was opened. Steps were taken to open border crossings to provide humanitarian aid to the earthquake victims. The news agency AFP gave this information quoting an official.
Serdar Kilik, Turkey’s special envoy responsible for establishing talks with Armenia, tweeted that five trucks with aid, including food and water, arrived in Turkey from the Alikan border crossing.
The crossing was last opened in 1988
Quoting news agency Anadolu, the report said that the crossing was last opened in 1988. Then there was an earthquake in Armenia and about 30 thousand people were killed. At that time Turkey had sent help to Armenia.
In his tweet, Serdar Kilik also thanked Ruben Rubinyan, Vice President of Armenia and the Armenian National Assembly. He said that help also includes medicine. At the same time, Rubinyan tweeted, “It is a pleasure to be able to help.”
What is the dispute between the two countries?
According to the report, the two countries have never established formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s. The root cause of tension between the two countries is related to the mass killings of people in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which Armenia calls genocide. At the same time, Turkey denies the matter of genocide. He argues that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Ottoman civilians died in the conflict when the Armenians rose against their Ottoman rulers and sided with the invading Russians.
Turkey-Armenia want to normalize relations
In December 2021, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalize relations. It is said that Armenia was defeated by Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan in the war for control in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and the ambassadors were appointed a year later. In February 2022, Turkey and Armenia resumed their commercial flights in two years. At the same time, the land border between the two countries is closed since 1993, during which trucks have been crossing the border through Georgia or Iran.
Let us tell you that on Monday (February 6), there was a severe earthquake of 7.8 magnitude in Turkey and Syria, in which about 25 thousand people have lost their lives and thousands of people have been injured. In this hour of crisis, 70 countries including India have sent help for the earthquake victims.