Washington D.C./29.06.23/Turan: The United States on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to de-escalate and avoid provocations to protect the peace process while their top diplomats are expected to wrap up their three-days-long talks outside Washington today, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.
"We are deeply disturbed by the loss of life in Nagorno Karabakh," State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller tweeted Wednesday afternoon just hours after a deadly clash reportedly erupted in the Nagorno-Karabakh area.
Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson, told a daily briefing: "These latest incidents underscore the need to refrain from hostilities and for a durable and dignified peace. The United States is committed to assisting the parties in achieving this goal and Secretary Blinken is directly engaged in the peace process."
Patel said the U.S.-led negotiations with the foreign ministers "were constructive, and we continue to build on those discussions today and tomorrow, so there's no change in the schedule."
Ministers Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan on Wednesday met with President Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan at the White House.
"I encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue making progress toward peace, as well as to avoid provocations and de-escalate tensions in order to build confidence," Sullivan tweeted following the meeting.
Asked by TURAN if the foreign ministers were laser focused on negotiation, given the tension on the ground, State Department's Patel refrained from offering any characterization.
In the meantime, he went on to add, "What I can say is, though, that this is something that the Secretary is going to be directly engaged on and continues to be directly engaged on this process, as is other members of our team, including our senior advisor for Caucasus negotiations, Lou Bono. This is something that we’ll continue to remain directly engaged on with these foreign ministers."
As TURAN reported earlier, Secretary of Antony Blinken will participate in the bilateral peace negotiation closing session outside Washington with his Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues this evening, Baku time.
Alex Raufoglu
Politics
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