Turkey and Armenia have resumed talks aimed at normalizing relations after a two-year lull. The two countries agreed to simplify visa rules, Reuters reported, as quoted by News.bg.
Ankara severed diplomatic and trade relations with Yerevan in 1993. Turkey supports Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and has deepened ties with ethnic Turkic Azeris in recent years.
After the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, NATO member Turkey is trying to revive its historically strained ties with Armenia, although normalization depends on progress in Armenia's peace talks with Azerbaijan.
Turkish and Armenian special envoys held a fifth round of negotiations on the Alikan-Magara border crossing. They agreed to assess the technical requirements for the reopening of the Akyaka-Ahurik border crossing for rail transport, as well as to simplify mutual visa procedures for holders of diplomatic and official passports.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to pursue normalization without preconditions, but did not give a date for the next round of talks.
Turkey and Armenia have a long-standing dispute over the so-called Armenian genocide committed in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War I, but disputes the number and denies it was genocide.