Turkish and Armenian officials will hold a first meeting next week aimed at restoring diplomatic relations frozen for almost three decades.
Special representatives of the two countries will meet in Moscow on Jan.14, the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported on Wednesday.
Diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia have been suspended for 28 years due to Armenia’s extended military standoff with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the two countries fought over in late 2020. Turkey sided with Azerbaijan in that brief conflict.
Turkey and Armenia signed two bilateral protocols in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009 aimed at normalising ties, but they have not been ratified by either of the country’s parliaments.
Armenia has handed back territories in Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan as part of a Russia-brokered ceasefire signed by the two sides in November 2020, following six weeks of clashes. Turkey, which provided military hardware and know-how to Azerbaijan in the conflict, is now calling on Armenia to allow it to trade with Azerbaijan through a land corridor controlled by Yerevan.
Over the past few months, Ankara and Yerevan have made positive statements about restoring their bilateral relations. At the end of August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government would evaluate Turkey’s diplomatic gestures for the establishment of peace in the region and respond to positive signals. Turkey can work toward gradually normalising ties because Armenia has stated its readiness, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in response. In December, both countries appointed special envoys to this end.
Armenia announced last month that it would end a ban on the importing of Turkish goods on Dec.31. It had implemented the measure in response to Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.