The first meeting of the special envoys of Yerevan and Ankara for the normalization of bilateral ties took place last January 14, in Moscow, under the mediation of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko.

The parties agreed to engage in a constructive and depoliticized dialogue to find common ground, TASS news agency reported.

Turkey unilaterally closed its air and land borders with Armenia in 1993, until 1995 when it opened its airspace to Armenia under pressure from the international community.

Turkey presents a series of unacceptable conditions for Yerevan with a view to opening the land border and restoring diplomatic relations, including the rejection of international recognition of the Armenian genocide.

In 2009, in the German city of Zurich, the chancellors of the two states signed protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations and the principles of relations, but these documents were not ratified by the parties.

In March 2018, Yerevan announced the cancellation of the protocols and last year both countries appointed special envoys to give continuity to the dialogue.

pgh/etc/mem/mml