Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has officially confirmed Ambassador Serdar Kılıç as a special envoy in the process of normalisation of relations with Armenia.

The Turkish official newspaper published information on Serdar Kılıç’s appointment as Turkey's special envoy to Armenia by a presidential decree on 10 January.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Civil Aviation Committee approved the Turkish Pegasus Airlines to operate flights on the Istanbul-Yerevan-Istanbul route. Earlier, the Armenian company Flyone was granted a similar permit. Flyone Armenia will be the first Armenian airline to operate flights to Turkey since 2015.

Described by some media sources as a "bureaucrat trusted" by President Erdogan, Serdar Kılıç previously served as Secretary-General of the Turkish National Security Council and ambassador to Tokyo and Washington.

Kılıç is also a representative of one of the country's most prominent political dynasties. His father, İlyas Kılıç, was a CHP deputy from Samsun in 1961-1980.

His brother, Sinan Kılıç, was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's personal physician when he was still mayor of Istanbul. His nephew, Akif Çhağatay Kılıç, is a former youth and sports minister and now head of the parliament's foreign policy commission as a representative of the AK Party.

"On the one hand, steps are being taken to increase confidence between Azerbaijan and Armenia, on the other hand, we have [also] benefited from taking steps in parallel with Armenia," said Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.

In December last year, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu announced that Turkey and Armenia would soon appoint special envoys to normalise relations and open charter flights.

During the discussion of the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the parliament, Çavuşoğlu said that special envoys appointed by Yerevan and Ankara will look for ways to normalize relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Armenia welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s statement on the appointment of a special envoy to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey. The statement came from Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vahan Hunanyan.

According to him, Armenia, as before, is ready for the unconditional normalisation of relations with Turkey, according to the program of the Armenian government.

Although Yerevan and Ankara tried to improve relations and open borders during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's presidency in 2008-2009, two issues remained unresolved - the Karabakh conflict and Turkey's failure to recognise the 1915 events as genocide against the Armenian people.

This time, Çavuşoğlu also stressed that Turkey will coordinate the process of normalization of relations with Armenia with Azerbaijan.

In November, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Armenia had asked Moscow to mediate relations building with Turkey.