Armenia-Turkiye border opens for first time in 35 years for quake aid supplies
A border crossing between Armenia and Turkiye opened for the first time in 35 years on Saturday, to allow humanitarian aid through after a massive earthquake hit the region.
Serdar Kilic, Turkiye’s special envoy for dialogue with Armenia, reported on Twitter that five trucks carrying aid from the Alican border crossing, including food and water, had arrived in Turkiye.
According to the state news agency Anadolu, it had not opened since 1988.
The devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkiye and northwestern Syria on Saturday was called the “worst event in 100 years in this region,” according to UN aid chief Martin Griffiths.
Griffiths also called Turkiye’s response to the disaster “extraordinary” during a news briefing in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras.
Also, he told Reuters that he hoped that aid in Syria would go to both areas held by the government and the opposition, but that this was “not clear yet.”
