Turkish, Armenian envoys to meet in Moscow on Jan 14

Reuters 

Special envoys from Turkey and Armenia will hold the first round of talks aimed at normalising ties in Moscow on Jan. 14, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 5, as the two countries work to mend ties after years of animosity.

"The first meeting between the special representatives of Turkey and Armenia will be held in Moscow on 14 January," the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.

Armenia and Turkey, neighbours, have been bitterly at odds for years over the 1915 killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire, which Armenia considers a genocide, and other issues.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide.

Armenia and Turkey signed a landmark peace accord in 2009 to restore ties and open their shared border after decades, but the deal was never ratified and ties have remained tense. During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ankara supported Azerbaijan and accused Yerevan of occupying Azeri territories.

Turkey and Armenia appointed their special envoys late last year and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said the two countries would also begin charter flights between Istanbul and Yerevan as well.

Last week, Çavuşoğlu said Russia had contributed to the appointment of the special envoys, and added the first meeting would most likely focus on building a roadmap for further steps and confidence-building measures.

Last month, Moscow hosted the inaugural meeting of a six-way South Caucasus peace platform, proposed by Turkey and Azerbaijan after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The platform includes Iran, Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia.