Armenia and Azerbaijan must de-escalate tensions and move towards comprehensive and lasting peace, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price noted at Wednesday’s Department press briefing.

“Our message to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the parties themselves, but also to the entire region is the need to find a way to de-escalate tensions to put this back on a path towards a comprehensive and lasting peace. We have been engaged in that effort; we’ve been engaged in that effort bilaterally, we’ve been engaged in that effort multilaterally, and we’ll continue to do everything we can as the United States directly with the parties, through multilateral institutions and groupings, to advance that cause. It is our hope that other countries will send precisely the same message, but I’m not in a position to speak to the messages that other countries are sending,” Price said.

And reflecting on Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s visit to Turkey Wednesday and the humanitarian aid provided from Armenia after the devastating earthquake, the US State Department spokesperson welcomed the assistance provided to Turkey and Syria by various countries after this quake.