By Aram Arkun
Mirror-Spectator Staff
DÉCINES, France – One of the largest centers of Armenian population in France is in Décines, a suburb of Lyon in the Rhônes-Alpes region. Here along with other Armenian institutions, all located on the same Rue de 24 avril 1915 (“April 24, 1915 Street,” a street name symbolically given on the 50th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 1965), is the new Centre National de la Mémoire Arménienne, or National Center of Armenian Memory (CNMA, www.cnma.fr).
The goal of CNMA, according to its brochure, is “to restore to the populations of Armenian origin in France and Europe their capacity of cultural transmission, encumbered by systematic destruction and their deterritorialization of one hundred years ago.” Its target audience includes French Armenians, researchers, students, and any person interested in history and culture.