Armenia Links Türkiye Trade Access to Akhalkalaki-Kars Railway

By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk

Armenian Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan has said Armenia can trade with Türkiye under new customs procedures and use the Akhalkalaki-Kars railway through Georgia, placing transport access inside the slow-moving Türkiye-Armenia normalization process.

Rubinyan, Armenia's special representative for talks with Türkiye, described the railway step as the end of a "deadlock" for Armenian access to that route. He also pointed to a separate working group on the possible restoration of the Gyumri-Kars railway.

Akhalkalaki-Kars is a route through Georgia into Türkiye, not a reopened Türkiye-Armenia land border. Gyumri-Kars is the direct Armenia-Türkiye railway file, and its restoration remains a technical and political question rather than an operational crossing.

The remarks add a transport layer to the Türkiye-Armenia normalization process, where recent movement has come through direct flights, air cargo, visa facilitation for certain groups, humanitarian transit and leadership contacts without diplomatic relations being restored.

Türkiye lifted customs restrictions on direct trade with Armenia in May, allowing goods moving through third countries to list Türkiye or Armenia as the origin or final destination. The change removes a technical barrier for trade documentation, but it does not create direct overland trade through the closed border.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed normalization in a June 2 phone call, with the Turkish side saying the process was continuing through steps aimed at launching direct trade. The call placed trade inside the wider South Caucasus peace file, where Türkiye links regional stability, transport routes and economic opening.

Rubinyan's railway comments also intersect with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and Middle Corridor, where Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia have already moved to restore capacity after the June reopening of the Akhalkalaki section. For Armenia, access to that route through Georgia offers a practical channel before any direct railway or land-border opening with Türkiye.

The practical change is limited but real. Armenia gains cleaner trade documentation and potential access to a railway route through Georgia, while the direct Türkiye-Armenia border and the Gyumri-Kars line remain separate files.

Sources: ARKA, Reuters, Associated Press, Türkiye's Communications Directorate, Bosphorus News review and reporting.