27.03.2024


The delegation headed by Anne-Laurence Petel, the head of the France-Armenia friendship group of the French National Assembly, visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial on 27 March, accompanied by Vladimir Vardanyan, the head of the Armenia-France friendship group of the RA NA, and Olivier Decotigny, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of France to Armenia.

AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan welcomed the guests. She then accompanied them around the Genocide Memorial complex, presenting the history of its creation. She also narrated the history of the three khachkars placed in Tsitsernakaberd in memory of the Armenians who died in the massacres organized by the government of Azerbaijan in the cities of Sumgait, Kirovabad (Gandzak), and Baku at the end of the 20th century, as well as the stories of the five freedom fighters buried in front of the Memory Wall who died during the Artsakh struggle for survival. She emphasised the connection between the Armenian Genocide and contemporary acts of persecution and violence against Armenians and also referred to the historical and legal aspects of the Artsakh issue, describing Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian actions and propaganda.

The guests laid flowers at the Eternal Fire and observed a minute’s silence in memory of the innocent martyrs of the Armenian Genocide.

Edita Gzoyan accompanied the guests to Memory Wall, in the reverse side of which small jars full of soil taken from the graves of a number of foreign public figures, politicians, intellectuals and missionaries who raised their voice of protest against the massacres and deportations of Armenians carried out by the Turkish government, are placed in special niches.

Hasmik Martirosyan, AGMI senior tour guide, led the guests through permanent and the new temporary exhibitions “Pro Armenia, For You Armenia” and “The Armenian Genocide in French Armenian Artists’ Works”, after which the head of the delegation, Mrs. Anne-Laurence Petel left a note in the Memory Book for Honorable Guests.

Expressing gratitude for the visit, AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan, presented books on the Armenian Genocide to the guest of honor.