11.10.2018


French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. The President of France was accompanied by Zohrab Mnacakanyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the RA, Arayik Harutyunyan, the Minister of Education and Science of the RA, Jonathan Lacôte, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to the RA, Harutyun Marutyan, AGMI Director and Kamo Areyan, the deputy Mayor of Yerevan.

The partner of AGMI Armen Baghdasaryan introduced to the guests the history of construction of the memorial complex and its symbolism. Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath at the Memorial, and with the members of delegation put flowers at the eternal fire honoring the memory of the innocent martyrs of the genocide.

The members of the delegation, headed by the President of France Emmanuel Macron also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum and got acquainted with the museum exhibits and documents about the Armenian Genocide. They were also at the Temporary Exhibition Hall, were two new exhibitions entitled “A will to live and a mission to save” and “Krikor Jololian (Chololian): an Armenian Photographer of Paris” were opened yesterday within the framework of the XVII Francophone Summit.

After the guided-tour at the Museum, the President of France left a note in the Memory Book of the museum: “It is with gravity and emotion that we are here today. On behalf of France, I respectfully pay tribute to those who have fallen with “eyes full of sunshine”, those who “only wanted to live”. France denounced the genocide of 1915 by the intellectuals. France welcomed children and families who had fled the genocide and made our Nation bigger.

France will never forget and carry the fight for truth and recognition. This sad resignation. For those who have fallen. For our generations and those to come.

The Director of the AGMI Harutyun Marutyan handed to the French President a gold medal for the high-ranking guests and his book “The Armenian Identity: Genocide Remembrance and the Karabakh Movement” as well as Hayk Demoyan's “Armenian Genocide: Frontpage Coverage in the World Press”.

The French president also made a tour in the Memory Alley, where he planted a silver fir.