Türkiye–Armenia Normalization Talks: What Kılıç and Rubinyan Have Been Negotiating Since 2022

Why It Matters

The talks between Türkiye's Special Representative Serdar Kılıç and Armenia's Special Representative Ruben Rubinyan, begun on 14 January 2022, are the main formal channel for establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the land border between two neighbours that have had no diplomatic ties since independence. They matter because the outcome would reshape trade, transport and security in the South Caucasus after the 2020 Karabakh War.

This guide sets out what is publicly known: the aims, the sequence of confirmed steps, what each government says, and the verifiable answer to the question 'Is the border open?'. Where details are not publicly confirmed, we say so rather than fill gaps.

Background

Two states, no diplomatic relations

Türkiye recognized Armenia's independence in December 1991, but the two states never exchanged ambassadors. In April 1993, after Armenian forces took the Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan, Türkiye closed the land border. It has stayed closed to regular traffic since then.

The 2009 Zurich Protocols

The foreign ministers signed two protocols in Zurich on 10 October 2009. They covered establishing diplomatic relations and developing bilateral relations, and the first confirmed mutual recognition of the existing border as defined by relevant treaties of international law. Neither parliament ratified them. Armenia's Constitutional Court issued a ruling on the protocols in 2010, and Armenia formally annulled the protocols in 2018.

The 2020 Karabakh War and the new regional setting

The 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia ran from 27 September to 10 November 2020 and ended with a trilateral statement signed by Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. In September 2023 Azerbaijan restored control over the remaining Karabakh territory, and most of the Armenian population there relocated to Armenia. In 2025 Armenia and Azerbaijan initialed a peace agreement text at a meeting in Washington on 8 August. Ankara and Yerevan have both treated this Armenia–Azerbaijan track as the most important regional context for their own talks.

Chronology of the 2022 process

For a sister-publication overview of the same chronology, see Regions & Powers: Türkiye–Armenia Normalization Since 2022.

Key Players & Positions

Türkiye

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Presidency have described the process as aiming at full normalization without preconditions and at contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the South Caucasus. Turkish officials have also said that steps with Armenia proceed in coordination with Azerbaijan and are linked to progress toward an Armenia–Azerbaijan peace settlement. Ankara's separate proposal on the Events of 1915 is addressed below.

Armenia

Armenia's government has said it is ready to establish diplomatic relations and open the border without preconditions, and Armenian officials have welcomed the direct flights and the humanitarian use of the border crossing. Prime Minister Pashinyan's 'Crossroads of Peace' initiative, presented in October 2023, proposes opening regional transport and communication links on the basis of sovereignty and reciprocity. Armenia's position on the international recognition of the 1915 events is a separate matter that Armenian officials have continued to hold; Yerevan has said it does not make it a condition of normalization.

Azerbaijan

Baku is not a party to the Kılıç–Rubinyan channel, but it is central to the context. Türkiye and Azerbaijan have a close alliance, and Azerbaijan's official position is that its peace talks with Armenia and Armenia–Türkiye normalization should move in step. Azerbaijani officials have also cited the Zangezur or Nakhchivan connectivity question; Armenia describes its own preferred transit arrangements in terms of sovereignty and reciprocity.

Other actors

Russia was the host of the first meeting and a signatory of the 2020 statement, and the United States, the European Union and others have publicly welcomed the process. The US recognized the 1915 events as genocide in a presidential statement on 24 April 2021, a position Türkiye rejected.

Is the Türkiye–Armenia Border Open?

The short answer is: not as a normal, fully open international crossing. The land border has been closed since 1993. Verifiable exceptions are limited:

• Humanitarian use: the Margara–Alican crossing was used on 11 February 2023 for Armenian aid after the earthquakes in southern Türkiye.
• Announced intentions: statements issued after the 2022 Vienna meetings referred to opening the border for third-country nationals and diplomatic passport holders. Readers should treat these as announced steps, and should verify through the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkish Ministry of Trade, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or their own governments' travel advisories whether and when regular operation has begun.
• Air links: direct flights between Istanbul and Yerevan have operated since early 2022, and third-country land trade routes continue to carry most commerce.

We do not cite specific opening dates for full operation, because none could be verified at the time of writing. Rules on documents, visas and customs also differ by nationality.

Source Comparison

The gaps in Western media coverage tend to come from two habits: treating the border as a single switch rather than a staged set of agreements, and omitting the Turkish proposal on archives and historians. Turkish sources, for their part, put regional security and treaty obligations first. For other readings, see Monitor of Nations: Türkiye–Armenia Normalization and the Proposed Joint Historical Commission and Bloc Politics: The Events of 1915.

Key Terms & Related Guides

• Special Representatives: envoys with a mandate to negotiate normalization outside the regular ambassador-level channel, since the two states have no diplomatic relations.
• Zurich Protocols (2009): two signed but unratified texts on diplomatic relations and bilateral cooperation.
• Treaty of Kars (1921): the treaty fixing the Türkiye–Armenia border, concluded with Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
• Joint Historical Commission: Türkiye's 2005 proposal for archive-based historical research by Turkish, Armenian and international historians.
• Crossroads of Peace: Armenia's 2023 framework for regional transport and trade links.

Related reading on this site: Security Perimeters: Why Türkiye Treats Its Southern Border as a Functional, Not Geographic, Line, Editorial Principles: Primary-Source Standards at Political Contours, and About Political Contours.

Political Contours presents global affairs with a dedicated perspective from Türkiye. Sections marked 'Türkiye's Position' reflect official Turkish policy as stated by Turkish government sources. Political Contours presents Türkiye's official perspective alongside its legal and historical reasoning as a distinct editorial viewpoint on contested issues. Claims are attributed to primary sources such as treaties, UN documents, archival records and official statements, so that readers can verify them independently.

By the Political Contours Editorial Team.