PARIS — An exclusive conference titled “In Support of Armenia and Artsakh” took place at the French Senate, featuring eminent French intellectuals and parliamentarians who voiced their concerns about Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy and ethnic cleansing practices.
The event was organized under the patronage of Gérard Larchet and Yael Braun-Pivet, presidents of the two houses of the French Parliament – the Senate and the National Assembly.
Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde, and Senator Bruno Retailleau, head of the Republicans group and chairman of the Senate group for international awareness on Nagorno Karabakh, delivered opening remarks.
Notable participants included French writer and traveler Sylvain Tesson, novelist and French Academy member Érik Orsenna, writer and former human rights envoy Olivier Weber, writer Pascal Bruckner, Le Point magazine editor-in-chief Valerie Toranian, filmmaker Costa-Gavras, and other distinguished scholars.
The French intellectuals expressed their profound concern about Azerbaijan’s ongoing and blatant Armenophobia and ethnic cleansing policies. They warned about the existential threats faced by the people of Artsakh due to these policies and urged the international community to take immediate and effective steps to end the nearly 100-day blockade of Artsakh. They also called for ensuring the right of Artsakh Armenians to live safely and with dignity in their homeland.
The conference concluded with closing remarks from the co-chairs of the France-Armenia friendship groups, Gilbert-Luc Devinaz and Anne-Laurence Petel, Chairman of the France-Artsakh Friendship Group Francois Pupponi, and Artsakh’s Representative to France Hovhannes Gevorgyan.
Armenian Ambassador to France Hasmik Tolmajian, Father Grigor Khachatryan, leader of the French Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, French National Assembly deputies, Senate members, regional and city authorities’ heads, French cultural and public figures, numerous journalists, and representatives of the Armenian community were also in attendance.
