According to our information, a secret meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey took place last week in the Turkish village of Akyaka, bordering the border village of Akhurik in Shirak region.
According to our source, the Armenian delegation consisted of about 10 people, including representatives of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures, and representatives of the tourism sector.
We have made a request to the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking them to detail what issues on the agenda the Armenian and Turkish sides discussed during that meeting.
Days have passed, but we still haven't received any response, so we decided to publish the information we received from our sources.
According to our information, during the meeting, which lasted several hours, the issue of opening the Gyumri-Kars railway was discussed.
It should be noted that the "Akhurik" checkpoint of the Gyumri-Kars railway is located about 1.5 km from the village of the same name in Shirak marz. During the Soviet years, before the border was closed by Turkey, there was a border checkpoint between Armenia and Turkey.
Both passenger and freight trains traveled on the Gyumri-Kars railway. That checkpoint, located in the northwest of Armenia, operated until 1993, when Turkey closed the border, and communication between the two countries through this checkpoint was stopped.
The two main buildings, the former customs office and Akhurik station, are located directly on the border with Turkey.
When the Armenian-Turkish border was still open, cargo was sent to Akhuryan-2 station after preliminary inspection at Akhuryan-1 station.
We asked Marzpet Sargsyan, the administrative head of Akhurik, whether he is aware of that meeting, whether any work related to the railway is being carried out or not.
"Do you know how? the village is about 2 km away from the border, nothing can be seen from here, I can't say anything about it, because I am not informed. There are no instructions regarding the railway, nothing is being done.
Let me say that a part of the railway passes through Akhurik, but there is no stop in the village, how can I say, it's only the lines, again..." said the administrative head.
Let's remind that during the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan, in 2009, when the process of normalization of relations with Turkey was initiated through "football diplomacy", they planned to repair the railway, even some repair work was done in Akhurik.
But quite recently, photos appeared on the Internet from the Akhurik settlement, where the section of the Gyumri-Kars railway was covered with manure. Let's also remember that months ago, after the meeting of special envoys Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kilic on the issue of Armenian-Turkish relations, it was announced that an agreement had been reached on regional developments. to adequately assess the technical needs of the opening of the border, which will enable the operation of the Akhurik-Akyaka railway the border checkpoint.
It is known that as a result of the meetings, Rubinyan and Kilic agreed to open the border for those with diplomatic passports and citizens of third countries, but that agreement remained on paper.
