Bloomberg: Türkiye poised to reopen Armenia border after three decades

Türkiye is considering reopening its land border with Armenia within the next six months, people familiar with the matter said—potentially removing Europe’s last closed frontier from the Cold War era and revitalizing trade across the South Caucasus, Bloomberg reports.

A diplomatic breakthrough between Baku and Yerevan, paired with the reopening of the frontier with Türkiye, would provide Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with a significant political boost ahead of June elections, the sources said. Should he secure another term, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev could work with Pashinyan to formalize a comprehensive peace agreement. Only after such an agreement, the sources added, could Türkiye appoint an ambassador to Armenia and restore full diplomatic relations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reiterated last month that Ankara will not normalize ties prematurely. “If we normalize relations now, we will be taking away Armenia’s biggest reason for signing a peace agreement,” Fidan said.

The foreign ministries of Armenia and Türkiye did not respond to requests for comment.

Efforts toward reopening have accelerated: Turkish and Armenian envoys inspected the Akyaka–Akhurik border crossing on November 29 and met in the Armenian city of Gyumri to advance plans to restore the Kars–Gyumri rail link, Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry said. Replacing the rail tracks could take up to five months, according to the sources. Local officials added that Türkiye is constructingnew roads in the region for border patrol use.

A formal peace agreement would bolster stability in a region that forms a crucial energy corridor for oil and gas flowing from the Caspian Basin and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia.

As part of the Trump-backed deal, the United States secured exclusive rights to develop a new transport route—dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP)—linking mainland Azerbaijan to Türkiye through Armenia. Known as the Zangezur Corridor, the route would integrate into an emerging east-west corridor stretching from Beijing to London, enhancing Türkiye’s role as a strategic transit hub.

Pashinyan told the Armenian parliament in mid-November that construction on the passage would begin in the second half of 2026, noting that the railway would follow its former Soviet route because alternatives were “not realistic,” according to news reports.

Richard Giragosian, director of the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center, said Türkiye’s reopening of the border is viewed as likely in early 2026, but cautioned that “Pashinyan has to be careful and cautious in not being seen as too closely tied to the Erdogan government,” even as he benefits from progress in normalization.

By Vafa Guliyeva