U.S. President Barack Obama urged Armenia and Turkey to "make every effort" to advance the normalization of relations, the White House said in a statement.

Obama made the remarks in a meeting with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC.

"The President commended President Sargsyan for his courageous efforts to achieve normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey and encouraged him to fulfill the promise of normalization for the benefit of the Armenian people," the White House said.