Armenians have managed to shift from silence to the voice calling on the world to remember the tragedy and violence against the innocent people in early 20th century. The statement came from CoE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland at the Public and Political Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide that kicked off in Yerevan today, on April 22.
He said 2 million Armenians were deprived of the opportunity to build their future after the WWI. It was the loss of not only Armenians, but also the word, as those Armenians could bring much to the world, he said. "Prevention of such tragedies must be a priority for the countries and international organizations. We should sympathize with them who suffered those days and the victims of that tragedy, the way Fridtjof Nansen did," the politician said.
He said the world community is responding to such crimes very slowly. After the world community's failure in Darfur and Srebrenica, it must step up efforts to prevent and stop crimes against humanity. "To that end, we must shift from nationalism to the internationalism, modernize the international organizations to achieve results," he said.
The CoE chief welcomed Yerevan's actions against such crimes. "It is important to work for the protection European values, and Armenia does it. I hope one day you will restore peace with your neighbors," Jagland said. He pointed at the civil society's great role in the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation efforts. He called on the leadership of Armenia and Turkey to speed up ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols.
International Public and Political Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide kicked off in Yerevan today, on April 22. The even is held in Karen Demirchian Sports/Concert Facility and has brought together more than 600 participants from all over the world, including political, religious and public figures, journalists and editors.
Among the keynote speakers are President Serzh Sargsyan, Palriament Speaker Galust Sahakyan, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, CoE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland.
Chairing the Forum are prominent specialists in the international Law such as Luis Gabriel Moreno Ocampo, Jeffrey Robertson, as well as politicians, such as French MP Patrik Devejyan, Baroness Caroline Cox, and Nikolay Ryzhkov, co- chair of the Armenian-Russian Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. Leading representatives of the International Law are also expected to delivered speeches at the event.