Yerevan /Mediamax/. Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland called on Armenia and Turkey to return to Armenian-Turkish normalization process.

He stated it at the “Against the Crime of Genocide” global forum in Yerevan.

“If there is a reason and an opportunity to return to Armenian-Turkish protocols, it will be great. I call on both parties not to let that chance slip through their fingers. I hope the conflict of 100 years won’t erase the possibility of peaceful coexistence,” he said.

The CoE Secretary General also said he hoped Armenia and Turkey would sooner or later find the way to reconciliation.

Touching upon the Armenian Genocide, Thorbjorn Jagland said what was committed against the Armenian people hundred years ago was the loss of not only Armenians but also the entire mankind.

“Hundred years ago a myriad of Armenians were deprived of the opportunity to fulfill their potential. It’s a global loss and not only that of Armenians. Those people were deprived of their ideas and achievements. They were robbed all this, and they will never be able to regain them. But in order to prevent the occurrence of such new tragedies we should support them and be solidary to the victims of the history,” he said.

The CoE Secretary General added that the international community “is yet greatly delaying the prevention of genocides.”

He also touched upon the issue of Nansen passports and stressed their humanitarian significance.