United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu have discussed Turkey’s appointment of a Special Envoy to discuss the process of normalization with Armenia.

According to a statement from the Department of State, the two held a phone call on Monday, January 3.

Armenia has named lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party Ruben Rubinyan as special envoy to work on the normalization of ties with Turkey. Ankara, meanwhile, has appointed former ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic for the same role.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in late December that Ankara is in favor of direct contacts with Yerevan without intermediaries. The first meeting between the the envoys is supposed to be held in Moscow.