BREAKING NEWS

Turkish, Armenian officials to hold normalization talks after 2-year lull, source says

Special representatives from Turkey and Armenia will hold a new round of talks aimed at normalizing ties between the neighbors on Tuesday, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Monday, resuming efforts to end years of animosity after a two-year pause in negotiations.

Ankara had severed diplomatic and commercial relations with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during a war the two countries were fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and has deepened its political and military ties with the ethnic Turkic Azeris in recent years.

Since the conflict ended, NATO member Turkey has also been working to revive its historically strained ties with Armenia, though it has said any normalization with Yerevan depended on the progress in its peace talks with Azerbaijan.

Special representatives from Turkey and Armenia have held four rounds of talks so far, and the Turkish source said a fifth round would be held on Tuesday along the Turkish-Armenian border.