To allow aid to quake-hit Turkey, Armenia briefly buries old hatchet of tensions

A land border crossing between Turkey and Armenia was opened for the first time in 35 years on Saturday with Yerevan agreeing to aid Ankara's quake-related rescue and rehabilitation mission by opening the Alican border crossing. Five trucks with aid including food and water arrived in Turkey from the Alican border crossing, tweeted Serdar Kilic, Turkey's special envoy for dialogue with Armenia.

The assistance comes after a series of earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria this week, killing nearly 25,000 people in both countries.

According to state news agency Anadolu, this was the first time the crossing had opened since 1988. In 1988, Turkey sent aid to Armenia after the country was hit by a similarly deadly earthquake that killed between 25,000 to 30,000.

Kilic also thanked Armenia and the Armenian national assembly's vice president Ruben Rubinyan. The aid also included medicine, he said.

"Happy to have been able to assist," Rubinyan said on Twitter.

Turkey and Armenia have never established formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since 1993. The relationship is strained due to genocide of Armenian people that was committed by the Ottoman Empire during the first World War, a description which Ankara fiercely contests.

However, in December 2021, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalise relations. The development occurred a year after Armenia lost to Turkey's ally Azerbaijan in a war for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In February 2022, Turkey and Armenia resumed their first commercial flights in two years.

The land border between the two countries has remained closed since 1993 however, due to which transport trucks are required to transit through Georgia or Iran.

(With inputs from agencies)

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