Yerevan's dashed dreams of 'opening borders' with Ankara bypassing Baku

Turkiye continues to stand by Azerbaijan in processes in the South Caucasus, responding appropriately to regional developments. It should be recalled that since the late 1980s, Turkiye has reacted strongly to Armenia's terrorist acts, genocide, and crimes committed in Azerbaijani territories. In 1993, Ankara closed its borders with Armenia and cut off all diplomatic and trade relations with the country.

Since that time, Armenia has pursued a policy of occupying Azerbaijani lands but received an appropriate response during the Second Garabagh War in 2020. The Azerbaijani army liberated Garabagh and reclaimed its historic lands in just 44 days.

Normalization process in Turkiye-Armenia relations

Since the end of the conflict, Armenia has been very eager to normalise relations with Turkiye. However, Ankara has repeatedly stated that Armenia can only make progress in its relations with Turkiye after signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. It is no coincidence that until a few months ago, the Pashinyan administration, unable to gain sufficient support from the West, was able to take steps to contribute to peace and fulfil Azerbaijan's rightful demands. The meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Almaty in May signalled great hopes for a peace treaty in the region.

During this time, there was also noticeable progress in Turkiye-Armenia relations. In January 2022, talks on normalization began, and in February 2022, direct flights between the two countries started. Yesterday, the fifth round related to the normalization process was held at the Turkiye-Armenia border. As a result of the meeting, the possibility of opening the borders only to citizens of third countries emerged.

Armenian media did not miss the opportunity

Following this session dedicated to the normalization process, the Armenian media snatched this opportunity to come into the spotlight with false and inaccurate information. Reports on the opening of borders between Turkiye and Armenia appeared in the Armenian media after the meeting between the two countries.

These articles claimed that relations with Ankara had deteriorated due to Azerbaijan. Interestingly, none of these articles mentioned that Turkiye-Armenia relations were disrupted due to Armenia's so-called genocide claims and acts of vandalism in Garabagh. The situation of the Armenian media, coming into the spotlight with biased and inaccurate news while trying to rebuild relations with Ankara, is pitiful.

Note that besides leveling accusations against Turkiye regarding a disputed "genocide," Yerevan also asserts territorial claims rooted in the Treaty of Sevres and pledges made to Armenian leaders by Entente government envoys on the eve of World War I. Armenia continues to depict Mount Agr? on its coat of arms and espouses aspirations for the so-called Western Armenia, a region envisaged to emerge from six eastern Anatolian regions under the Treaty of Sevres.

Armenian disinformation is not new to the world

It should be noted that the habit of the Armenian press to distort information and share fake news has been ongoing for years. During the Second Garabagh War in 2020 and the localized anti-terror measures in 2023, the Armenian media tried to attract global attention with fake news. For instance, Armenians attempted to present images of children injured in earthquakes years ago as victims of Azerbaijani terror during anti-Azerbaijan protests.

Even many well-known Armenian officials, including Hovhannes Virabyan, the Ambassador of Armenia to Argentina, Peru, and Chile, shared these false reports on his X social account.

It appears that Armenians resorted to such deceit because they could not find any evidence of children being harmed during the 23-hour anti-terror operations in Garabagh. Given this customary behavior, informed media representatives today can predict the inaccuracy of the information reflected in the Armenian media. Today, instead of working towards peace, the situation of the Armenian media announcing the opening of borders and even the abolition of visa requirements with Turkiye is ridiculous. It should be noted that Turkiye has not yet confirmed the news of opening borders even for citizens of third countries.

And let's once again convey the message of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the attention of the Armenian press, which tends to circulate false news:

"Until the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is resolved, Turkiye will not open its border with aggressor Armenia!"