Turkey Denies Unfounded Claims from Azerbaijani Media

· March 25, 2025

Ankara — The Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications’ Center for Combating Disinformation refuted reports from some Azerbaijani media outlets claiming that Azerbaijan was not informed about the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border for humanitarian aid delivery to Syria.

“The claim made in certain media outlets under headlines like ‘Unexpected Move from Turkey: Border Opened to Armenians, Baku Kept in the Dark’ does not reflect reality. The Alican (Margara) border crossing was opened solely to facilitate the transit and return of the humanitarian aid convoy from Armenia to Syria.
According to a decision made by the Council of Ministers in 1992, the Alican crossing holds the status of a temporary border checkpoint for humanitarian aid only.

The humanitarian convoy, consisting of four trucks, entered Turkey through the Alican crossing in Iğdır province and arrived in Syria via the Hatay/Cilvegözü border checkpoint. The trucks will return to Armenia via the same route.

Previously, following the devastating earthquake in Turkey on February 6, 2023, Armenian aid convoys passed through the same crossing twice on separate dates.

Additionally, the Alican checkpoint has been used for mutual pedestrian crossings — most notably during the fifth round of negotiations between the special representatives for the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations on July 30, 2024.

The crossing also serves for meetings of the Turkey-Armenia Border Commissions on border-related matters. During a meeting on February 24, 2025, Armenia’s intention to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria via Turkish territory was directly communicated by Ambassador Serdar Kılıç to Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Ankara, Rashad Mammadov, and to Hikmet Hajiyev, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Azerbaijan, during their visit to Turkey on February 25.