Why has Azerbaijan closed its land border with Turkey?

Nakhchivan/06.07.22/Turan: The decision to close the land borders of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with Iran and Turkey from 1 July has had a negative impact not only on the lives of the region's population, but also on the citizens of Azerbaijan as a whole.

The authorities explain their decision by the quarantine regime, however, the border had been opened when the level of coronavirus infection was much higher than now.

A land connection to Iran and Turkey allowed Nakhchivan residents to travel once a month to neighbouring countries to buy food and basic necessities at low prices. Therefore, locals believe that the closure of the borders has benefited large retail chains owned by government officials.

Besides, many people have lost the opportunity to travel to Turkey at low prices by taking cheap flights to Nakhchivan.  Now, with the increased demand, the cost of airfares to all destinations is reaching astronomical amounts. For instance, a Baku-Istanbul-return flight costs AZN 600-700. Therefore, many people travelled by car to Nakhchivan, and from there the plane to Baku. Given the air ticket's price of 60 manats it was a profitable trip. Now the number of Baku-Nakhchivan daily flights has been reduced from 10 to 4.

At the same time the closure of the border will increase the occupancy rate of flights from Baku to Turkish cities and AZAL will benefit from it.

Many observers believe that the decision to close the NAR border may have been taken to ensure increased revenues for Azerbaijan's civil aviation industry and make up for losses incurred during the acute phase of the pandemic. -06B-