Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, who conducted talks in Yerevan as the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s special envoy, delivered Erdogan’s letter to Armenian officials and was exploring the possibilities of an Erdogan-Sargsyan meeting, Hurriyet reported.

Diplomatic sources said “the letter included Turkey’s commitment to the two protocols signed between Ankara and Yerevan in October 2009 to establish diplomatic relations, Turkey’s resolve to move forward with the normalization process and Ankara’s readiness to discuss ways to remove the existing obstacles.”

Analysts welcomed the Turkish initiative to send an envoy to Yerevan as a willingness to keep bilateral channels open in a “multi-actor game.”

“This is an important initiative before Erdogan’s Washington visit, both to keep the pulse in Yerevan and to show Ankara’s readiness to engage in direct dialogue with Armenia,” said Kamer Kasim, from the International Strategic Research Organization.