YEREVAN. – Armenia is a state that inspires hope. You were able to turn your suffering into strength, and the whole world sees it.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), Thorbjørn Jagland, stated the above-said at the two-day International Social and Political Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide. This event is devoted to the Armenian Genocide Centennial, and it got underway Wednesday in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

“People understood that they need to distance the world from nationalism, and bring internationalism.

“One hundred years ago, numerous Armenians were deprived of the opportunity to realize their potential,” Jagland said, and added: “It was the loss of the entire world.”

In his words, all states have an obligation to prevent human rights violations, and they are required to fulfill the UN Basic Principles.

“First and foremost, the states are obligated to prevent ethnic cleansing,” the CoE leader said. “Genocides are recurring before our eyes.”

“Armenia, being at the focus of the problems, helps us to understand our role,” Jagland noted. “The Armenian people want the same things as all people; they want to have a chance to work, a chance to give [their] children a better future, to travel.”

He also gave tribute to all the organizations whose objective is to achieve reconciliation between the Armenian and the Turkish peoples.

“I would urge the [two] sides not to miss the opportunities for dialogue,” Thorbjørn Jagland added.

As reported earlier, about 600 participants from fifty countries are taking part in the International Social and Political Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide.