Turkish, Armenian Officials Hold First Meeting Towards Normalization Of Relations

The first meeting of special representatives from Turkiye and Armenia towards normalization was held on Friday.

The closed-door meeting, held in the Russian capital Moscow, lasted for an hour-and-a-half, according to diplomatic sources.

"During their first meeting, conducted in a positive and constructive atmosphere, the Special Representatives exchanged their preliminary views regarding the normalization process through dialogue between Turkiye and Armenia," said a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

Stating that both "parties agreed to continue negotiations without preconditions aiming at full normalization," the statement added that the date and venue of the second meeting is to be decided in due time through diplomatic channels.

On Dec. 15, Serdar Kilic, a former ambassador to the US, was named Turkiye's special envoy to discuss steps towards normalization with neighboring Armenia. Three days later, Armenia appointed its own special representative, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan.

Ahead of Friday's meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that at the gathering, the envoys would exchange views on a roadmap for moving forward, including confidence-building measures.

Turkiye and Armenia have long been divided by a number of issues, from Armenia's refusal to recognize their shared border to historical incidents with the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population in 1915, during World War I. -