UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is mindful that on 24 April of this year, the Armenian nation and others around the world commemorate the centenary of the tragic events of 1915, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said during a briefing in Washington on Wednesday.

“He is also fully aware of the sensitivities related to the characterization of what happened in 1915.  He firmly believes that commemorating and remembering the tragic events of 1915, and continuing to cooperate with a view to establishing the facts about what happened, should strengthen our collective determination to prevent similar atrocity crimes from happening in the future.  The United Nations remains committed to strengthening the capacity of the international community to prevent such atrocity crimes from ever occurring again.”

“The Secretary-General acknowledges the forward-looking statement made by the Prime Minister of Turkey [H. E.] Mr. Davutoğlu yesterday.  He also encourages both Turkey and Armenia to make all possible efforts to normalize relations between their countries, in line with the 2009 Protocol on the Development of Relations between Armenia and Turkey.”