Mayor Alibeyoglu launches a campaign to gather signatures of Kars’ residents to appeal to government to open border gate with Armenia and for the closure of the Metzamor nuclear power station in Armenia

The mayor of the Turkish city of Kars, which is close to the Turkish-Armenian border, appealed on Tuesday for the opening of the border gate between Turkey and Armenia and the resumption of border trade after an 11-year interval.

The Turkish government have stressed that the border gate, which was closed in protest of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nogorno-Karabakh district, could only be reopened if Armenia withdraws all its troops from the mountainous region, thus allowing Azerbaijan to restore its sovereignty over the area and all the displaced
Azerbaijanis to return to their homes.

From time-to-time over the past few years various Turkish governments have tilted towards reopening the border gate with Armenia, but out of concern that such a move would upset Azerbaijan — a country in which Turks have ethnic, cultural and religious affinity — have so far refrained from doing so.

Some 1.5 million Azerbaijanis have been living in tent cities and old train carts since they were forced out of Nogorno-Karanakh by advancing Armenian troops and local Armenian forces, equipped and armed by the Armenian government.

Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) said reopening the border gate with Armenia would boost the economy of the city.

The mayor, concerned by the Metzamor nuclear power station in Armenia, said he has started collecting signatures of Kars’ residents in order to appeal to the Ankara government to press for the closure of the power station.

He said Metzamor was built with “primitive technology” and would cause a disaster in the entire region should it develop any malfunction. “We do not want to live under such a threat,” he said.