YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia has thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for declaring April the 24th a National Day of Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, the press service of the Great House of Cilicia reported. 

“On Wednesday, February 6th, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia extended a letter of appreciation to the French President Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of declaring April 24th as a national day for the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”. 

President Emmanuel Macron has said France will make April 24 “a national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide”.

Armenia and Armenians around the world mark April 24 annually as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

Speaking to the Armenian community at a dinner organized by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF) on February 5, Macron said: “France is, first and foremost, the country that knows how to look history in the face, which was among the first to denounce the killing of the Armenian people, which in 1915 named genocide for what it was, which in 2001 after a long struggle recognised it in law”, according to France24.

France "will in the next weeks make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide," he added.

The French president’s remarks honoured a campaign promise from his election in 2017.

At the event Macron also paid tribute to French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour who died in October 2018.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan