As previously reported, Turkey has allowed the opening of the “Margara” border checkpoint on its frontier with Armenia. Officially, this is said to be temporary and solely for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria.
Let us recall: the border between the two countries had been closed for 32 years for reasons well known to both Azerbaijani and Turkish audiences. And now it has been opened under the pretext of “delivering humanitarian aid from Armenia to Syria.”
Let’s lift the veil of “confidentiality” a bit. According to well-informed sources, this issue had long been discussed behind closed doors. However, Azerbaijan was not informed about what was happening — despite repeated official statements from Ankara that the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia would proceed in close coordination with Azerbaijan. But as it turns out, words and actions can diverge.
Moreover, there is more to this. First, there is no doubt that certain circles in Turkey are behind this process, eager to normalize relations with Armenia as soon as possible. And second — to use the mildest term — such decisions are being made not without foreign involvement. Behind them, without a doubt, stand global imperialist forces familiar to the Azerbaijani audience and beyond — primarily the Biden-Blinken administration, the EU, and the Armenian lobby. It is all the more surprising, considering the Biden administration has already been removed from power and, for obvious reasons, is no longer involved in this process — yet the plan it devised continues to be implemented by anti-popular forces in Turkey.
The opening of the “Margara” checkpoint is not the only item on this plan. Before that, a meeting was organized between Erdoğan and Pashinyan, during which Erdoğan gifted the Armenian Prime Minister a book. Later, Turkish journalists visited Armenia, released enthusiastic reports, and inspected the Turkish-Armenian border. There is no doubt that all of this is part of a single coordinated plan. And the aforementioned forces have managed to persuade the Turkish leadership to take this mistaken step.
What arguments and political technologies were used — this is, without a doubt, an internal matter for Turkey. But let us emphasize: such dubious and one-sided steps provoke disappointment and justifiable anger among the Azerbaijani people. The occupation of Azerbaijani lands, ethnic cleansing, tens of thousands of martyrs, hundreds of mine victims, destroyed cities, desecrated mosques — has all this been forgotten too quickly? Moreover, we are compelled to remind: today, the demands that Azerbaijan puts forward to Armenia simultaneously protect Turkey’s interests as well. Has Ankara too hastily forgotten Armenia’s territorial claims against neighboring countries, enshrined in its constitution, and the image of Mount Ararat on its coat of arms?
Once again, let’s recall the current diplomatic realities. Turkey had assured Azerbaijan that the border with Armenia would not be opened until the Zangezur Corridor is established. But this promise, too, has been forgotten. Although Turkey verbally supports President Ilham Aliyev’s initiatives for unifying the Turkic world, in practice this support is not felt — and what is happening now is understandably causing disappointment within the Turkic world as well. The price of today’s flirtation with Yerevan could prove to be very high.
