U.s. Ambassador To Represent Washington At Gallipoli Commemoration

- The U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, John R. Bass, will represent his country in the commemoration ceremonies for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli, U.S. Embassy spokesperson Joe Wierichs told Hürriyet Daily News.

The White House had previously announced Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will lead a presidential delegation to Armenia on April 24, when the country will commemorate the anniversary of the killings.

The U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Richard Mills, and four lawmakers will also be included in the delegation.

Around twenty countries will be represented by their heads of state, while two parliament speakers, three vice presidents, five prime ministers and around 20 ministers will also attend the ceremonies.

Turkey has rescheduled the international commemoration of the Gallipoli campaign to coincide with the date when Armenia traditionally commemorates the 1915 massacres of Ottoman Armenians, which it refers to as the Armenian genocide.

Heads of state from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chad, Djibouti, Iraq, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mali, Montenegro, Niger, Pakistan, Qatar, Senegal, Slovenia, Somali, South Sudan, Turkish Cyprus and Turkmenistan will attend the events in Çanakkale on April 24-25. Hungary will meanwhile be represented by its former president.

The prime ministers of Australia, Moldova, New Zealand and Romania will also be in Çanakkale. Neighboring Syria will be represented by the spokesperson of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), Khaled Hodja, since Ankara doesn’t consider the current regime in Syria legitimate.

Bahrain, Canada, Croatia, France, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mongolia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Vietnam will be represented at the ministerial level.

The U.K.’s Prince Charles and Prince Harry have already confirmed that they will attend the events at Gallipoli.

(PHOTO)