A total of 157,816,000 drams (approx. US$400,787) were allocated from the government's reserve fund to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia to provide food and bedding to earthquake-ravaged Syria and Turkey.

At Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the Armenian rescuers who went to Syria have returned, and today the rescuers who went to Turkey will return by land.

He added that the visit of Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan to Turkey on Wednesday was a very important and symbolic event.

The PM stated that he considers unacceptable the criticisms of Armenia regarding sending humanitarian aid to Turkey.

"I can't imagine any situation where millions of people across the ‘door’ need assistance and someone can remain indifferent to it; that's unacceptable," he said.

Pashinyan recalled that the Armenian government's plan emphasized Armenia's vision to change the quality of the country’s relations in the region.

"I regret that a certain qualitative change is taking place in the conditions of such an unprecedented disaster. But also, perhaps, human tragedy objectively makes people more understandable for each other. I hope that this can really become a new starting point for the establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey in the region," Pashinyan said.