French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo (right) attend a ceremony marking the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide during World War I in Paris, April 24, 2021. – BERTRAND GUAY / POOL / AFP
Pay tribute to the victims. Emmanuel Macron went this Saturday noon in front of an Armenian genocide memorial in the center of Paris, to “participate in a moment of meditation” on April 24, which in 2019 became National Day of Commemoration of the Genocide of 1915, underlining in a letter the “duty” to prevent “denial, lie”.
“Remember the past, by accepting the truth, pay homage to the dead and respect the memory of the living and our duty to prevent oblivion, denial, lies”, wrote the French Head of State in his letter to to his Armenian counterpart Armen Sarkissian and of which AFP has had a copy. “We remember together the appalling sufferings of a martyred people” and “France and Armenia are united in friendship and brotherhood,” he adds.
“Committed to your side in history, we are also committed to the future, at a time when your country has just gone through such a deadly conflict in a region where too much blood has been shed”, writes Emmanuel Macron in allusion to recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He calls for “building a new page, that of peace, prosperity and reconciliation”.
Arrived at Place du Canada, where a monument in memory of the genocide was erected in 2003, he spoke alongside the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, the ambassador of Armenia Hasmik tolmajyan, as well as the co-presidents of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations in France, Ara Toranian and Mourad Papazian.
His gesture comes as soon as Joe Biden is expected to become the first American president to recognize the Armenian genocide, recognized by around thirty countries but vigorously contested by Turkey.
Turkey opposed to recognition of genocide
It is also against a backdrop of tensions between France and Turkey, regularly accused of interference with French Muslims. The law against Islamist separatism wanted by Emmanuel Macron, who wants in particular to fight against foreign influences on French Muslims, also sparked a violent reaction from the Turkish president against Paris.
In February 2019, the Head of State announced that April 24 would become National Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, which France recognized on January 29, 2001. This is the first time since he has participated in an official commemoration of this day. The date of April 24, the same as that used in Armenia and in many countries, corresponds to the day of a roundup of Armenian intellectuals assassinated in Constantinople by the Ottoman power.
It is estimated that between 1.2 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War I by troops from the Ottoman Empire, then allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary.