ANKARA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Turkey said on Thursday it has invited Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and special envoy Ruben Rubinyan to the 2022 Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has approved these officials' participation at the forum, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said after talks with visiting Foreign Minister of the Central Africa Republic (CAR) Sylvie Baipo-Temon in the capital Ankara.

At a joint press conference with Baipo-Temon, Cavusoglu said Azerbaijan will also attend the forum, adding that the representatives from both Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to "express their thoughts" at the venue, which will serve as part of "confidence-building steps."

Turkey's normalization process with Armenia is supported by Azerbaijan, the Turkish foreign minister stressed.

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum is a high-level gathering of diplomatic professionals such as political leaders, diplomats, opinion makers, and academics, and this year's forum will be held on March 11-13 in an Antalya resort on the coast of the Mediterranean.

The Turkish and Armenian envoys have met in Moscow on Jan. 14, aiming to end decades-old hostilities between the two neighbors.

Since they do not have diplomatic relations, Turkey appointed Serdar Kilic, former ambassador to the United States, as the special representative, while Armenia appointed National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan for the talks.

Turkey and Armenia will launch mutual charter flights between Istanbul and Yerevan on Feb. 2 as part of the normalization efforts.

The relations between Turkey and Armenia were severed in 1993 during the first war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, when Turkey closed the border with Armenia in support of Azerbaijan. Enditem