Monday, April 13, 2015

UN Chief: 1915 Slaughters of Armenians Are 'Atrocity Crimes'



This year marks 100 years since the Ottoman Turks slaughter Armenians back in 1915. Recently, Pope Francis’ referred to the killings as “the first genocide of the 20th century” during a mass with Armenian Church leaders and President Sarkisian in attendance. The Secretary-General of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon, announced what happened 100 years ago was an “atrocity crimes” not supporting the Pope. The U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric noted that the secretary-general believed the commemoration and cooperation between Armenian and Turks will prevent similar atrocity crimes from occurring in the future. The U.N. has strengthened the capacity of the international community to try to prevent atrocity crimes from occurring. However, back in 2009, Armenia and Turkey signed an agreement to open their borders and establish a diplomatic relationship which in the past has been nonexistent and currently the agreement has yet to be implemented.  The EU has encouraged the two nations to build a relationship in order to move past the issues from their history. 

Written by Sarah Prosia
 http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chief-1915-slaughters-armenians-atrocity-crimes-30291235

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