Border crossing reports: Cildir/Aktas-Kartsakhi (Turkey-Georgia)

[ojones]

Wiki doesn't list it either. Pretty sure it's not real.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category: ... _crossings

[jelger]

If you zoom in, you'll see the alleged road runs through what looks like a private estate. I doubt there is an actual road. At most just a track.

No matter which way, there's no checkpoint, so even if one can actually drive here, it would be an illegal passage.

[adi]

There are two totally legit backdoors from Turkey into Georgia:

1) 30 km from the Turkish Posof on route E691/D995 to the crossing at 41°35'16,1" N, 42°49'06.6" E thence Vale in Georgia, continue on ს8 10 km to the nearest town Akhaltsikhe.
Alas you'll need your own vehicle or taxi (no problem in these parts of the world, just bargain with the Turks).

2) reopened in 2015 border between Çıldır (mini buses from/to) and Georgian Aktas-Kartsakhi. (41°14'05,8" N, 43°12'03.9" E)

[DouglasF]

We crossed yesterday from Georgia to Turkey self-driving (USA passport holders with Turkey vehicle plates) without any problems. It was 12:00 noon on a Thursday and I saw no other cars crossing in either direction, and just a few large lorries. Leaving Georgia we just drove up to the window, stayed in our car, and got our passports stamped to exit. Entering into Turkey we had to leave our car at Passport Kontrol to get stamped into Turkey, then only the driver passed through in the vehicle while passengers enter through a turnstile on foot to rejoin the car. There was a small duty free open, toilets and a small café, but many other areas/shops were closed. Seems like they expected much more traffic when this post was built/updated a few years ago. We then pulled up to a vehicle inspection window and had to present our vehicle registration papers. Our car was then checked and we passed through another gate. There was one final gate to cross where we presented our 2 passports again, told them our car plate number, and then we were waved through into Turkey. Very little English spoken - one man knew some English at the vehicle registration post, and the Georgian officer knew English and Russian (which we speak).
Overall, a very easy, uncrowded crossing.

NOTE - we had crossed the other direction 3 days earlier using the Posof-Vale border crossing in our same car (going to visit Vardzia, Georgia). No problems there, but a little more traffic than the Cildir/Aktas site. We have crossed once at Hopa/Sarp and there is a LOT more traffic and wait there, both foot traffic, bus passengers, lorries and self-drivers.

[Mohamad81]

What is the name of the gate from the Georgian side. Its name from the Turkish side is: aktaş . İs it the same from Georgian side?

[mnfiveb]

What is the name of the gate from the Georgian side. Its name from the Turkish side is: aktaş . İs it the same from Georgian side?

Kartsahi border crossing

[Mohamad81]

Is this the official name that is written on the crossing stamp?

[KaYe]

The Border Cildir/Aktas-Kartsakhi (Turkey-Georgia) is open again. We've crossed it yesterday. Mostly truck drivers passing that border. So the custom vehicle check on the Turkish side was a bit confused when we arrived and forgot to enter our van into the system, once that was sorted all ok. Georgian Side more organized and straight forward.

[HughW]

I also just crossed the the Cildir/Aktas-Kartsakhi border on 22nd May 2022. I was on bicycle. About a hundred semi trucks waiting to cross on the Turkish side. I thought that was a lot until I saw the Georgian side: I counted 540 trucks before I turned off the main road where they are all parked. They only let through one truck every five minutes. Someone told me this is due to the war in Russia. The trucks were from every silk road country. Quite a sight, and to think not long ago, to carry the same load as one truck would have taken several hundred humans and animals.

The trucks are parked on one side of the road so the very small volume of other traffic (local cars, motorbikes, and tourists like me) can drive around the trucks and go straight to the border. I went through the border controls in just a few minutes, everyone was friendly and not surprised to see a tourist. They weren't actually processing any trucks as far as I could see. Maybe if they were, they wouldn't be happy about a tourist skipping the queue? Not clear.

They scanned my QR code to prove I'd had covid vaccinations, and they actually seemed to take this seriously. i.e. they checked the code using an app, checked it against my passport, and noticed when I accidentally gave them an expired QR code first time (at other borders I've crossed, they just wanted to see a picture of a QR code and didn't perform any actual verification).

I couldn't find the bank which is supposed to exist on the Georgian side of the border. I asked a guard for 'bankomat' and he said no. Possibly I failed to see the bank in the border complex, and then he didn't want me going back inside.

To confirm, this is the border crossing:
https://goo.gl/maps/pFh1CaJNFyjRpfM96
41°14'05.8"N 43°12'03.8"E

[PeterM]

We crossed this border one week ago.
Turkey->Georgia
EU passport, EU registered vehicle.
Hazzle free and easy.
The Georgian side checked the EU vaccination certificate. No PCR test necessary in that case. And the driver licence of the vehicle owner.
Peter