Paris 1 — Relighting the flame at the Arc de Triomphe (photo Jean Eckian)

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Paris Commemorates Armenian Genocide

April 28, 2026

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PARIS — During two full days of events, Paris commemorated the Armenian Genocide. It began in the morning of April 24 with a reception for the Armenian community at Paris City Hall, where the new mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire gave a speech, and was followed at 3:00 p.m with a mass for the martyrs at the Armenian Apostolic Church. The service was led by Bishop Krikor Khachatryan.

Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire (photo Jean Eckian)

At 6 p.m. the same day, the Armenian community gathered at the “Jardin de Erevan” [Yerevan Garden], where speeches were given by the co-presidents of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France (CCAF) and Grégoire.

CCAF Co-presidents Mourad Papazian, at left, and Ara Toranian speaking (photo Jean Eckian)

Grégoire reiterated that Turkey’s recognition of the genocide remains “a vital struggle” for Armenia. France, he said, has been “a land of welcome” and “must continue to be so.” “Paris will remain true to its history: a city of solidarity, openness, and refuge.” ”Addressing the assembly, he spoke of those Armenians who are the pride of France, such as the Resistance fighter Missak Manouchian or Charles Aznavour, who, with his song Ils sont tombés, “put words to the unspeakable” — the genocide.

The public assembled on April 24 (photo Jean Eckian)

Memory, he concluded, has meaning only “if it illuminates a future that can be written only in peace.” Paris will “support” Armenia with all its might. “We do not forget the prisoners, and we will display their portraits in public spaces. Armenian culture must continue to thrive, and we will support the creation of a House of Armenia, which will be established in collaboration with all local authorities.”

CCAF Co-president Mourad Papazian at the podium (photo Jean Eckian)

CCAF Co-Chair Mourad Papazian singled out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing him of being “the architect of the strategy to deny the Armenian Genocide.” He said, “For as long as the truth is not acknowledged, as long as justice is not served, as long as responsibility is not assumed… history remains unfinished.”

Bishop Krikor Khachatryan (photo Jean Eckian)

“He then accused Azerbaijan of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, highlighting Azerbaijan’s desire “to erase and humiliate.” “And as if that weren’t enough… 19 Armenians are currently detained in Baku,” he strongly denounced.

A banner held in the crowd on April 24 (photo Jean Eckian)

Papazian then expressed his emotions, saying: “The Armenian people are not merely a wounded people. They are a people who inspire us. A people who remind us that dignity is not negotiable. That memory does not fade. That justice always prevails in the end. A people who, despite everything, continue to hope. And this hope compels us. It compels us to rise to the occasion. It compels us to be courageous. It compels us to remain true to who we are.”

CCAF Co-president Ara Toranian at the podium (photo Jean Eckian)

Ara Toranian, co-chair of the CCAF, also condemned the imprisonment of the 19 Armenians detained in Baku and the “unpunished crime” for which Turkey remains responsible. He declared: “To remember is to prevent the crime from fully achieving its goal. The duty to remember does not erase the irreparable. But it prevents forgetting from being its completion. Because genocide is a crime without statute of limitations and universal in scope. And in the face of it, humanity has a duty to ensure that neither time nor distance become the allies of the perpetrators. Here, today, by honoring these dead — whom Holocaust denial insults — we offer them what their executioners sought to deny them: a mausoleum in the conscience of humanity. But this demand is not merely a matter of memory. It also engages our present. “Forgetfulness paves the way for tomorrow’s crimes. That is why our struggle continues. For the truth. For justice. For peace. For the release of our hostages. And so that no people will ever be condemned to disappear amid the world’s indifference.”

Armenian Ambassador Arman Khatchatryan, third from left, pays his respects at the Arc de Triomphe (photo Jean Eckian)

Arman Khachatryan, ambassador of Armenia to France, concluded his remarks with these words: “We remember —so that silence may never shield crimes, so that truth may stand against denial and revisionism, and so that the future may not succumb to the repetition of the past. For memory is not merely a tribute to the dead. It is a demand upon the living.”

The public on April 24 (photo Jean Eckian)

April 25

The next day, at 11 a.m in Notre-Dame de Paris a solemn Catholic Mass was celebrated by Bishop Hovhannes Teyrouzian, Bishop of the Armenian Catholics of France.

Mass at Notre Dame celebrated by Bishop Hovhannes Teyrouzian, center (photo Jean Eckian)

At 6 p.m., the Armenian community gathered under the Arc de Triomphe in honor of the Armenian veterans who died for France. A ceremony organized by the National Association of Armenian Veterans and Resistance Fighters (ANACRA), Volunteers of the French Army from 1914–1918, and Veterans of the 1939–1945 War.

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Topics: armenian genocide commemoration

People: Ara Toranian, Arman Khatchatryan', Hovannes Geuvorguian, Hovhannes Teyrouzian, Krikor Khatchatrian, Mourad Papazian, Sebastien Lecornu

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Elsewhere, nearly a hundred municipalities across France, from Marseille, in the south, to Lille in the north, commemorated April 24.

Prime Minister of France Sébastien Lecornu in Marseille (official photo)

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu in Marseille stated, “More than a million men, women, and children massacred. A genocide, a crime against humanity. But a great crime, as we know from our history, is not in vain; it does not diminish the greatness of a people, the beauty of a language or a culture, nor, above all, the millennia-old and tragic history that still resonates today in the dark and profound gaze of the children of Armenia.”

April 28 Exclusion from Inauguration of New Armenian Embassy in Paris

As we write these lines, the inauguration of a new building that will house the Armenian Embassy in Paris is scheduled for April 28. Located in the very chic 16th arrondissement, this residence is the former property of President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. The following individuals were excluded from this solemn inauguration: Ara Toranian, Mourad Papazian, Hovannes Guevorguian, representative of Artsakh in France, and Monsignor Krikor Khatchatrian, Bishop of the Armenians of France.

Hovannes Guevorguian (photo Jean Eckian)

In a statement, the representative bodies of the Armenian community in France “regretted the exclusion of diaspora representatives from the inauguration of the new Armenian embassy. This decision appears to us to be a regrettable mistake. It must be acknowledged as such. We hope that this situation can be clarified in a spirit of dialogue.”

Previous Cal. Armenian Legislative Caucus Asks Pres. Trump to Address Baku Detentions, Artsakh Refugees, and Armenian Genocide

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