French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday attended the annual dinner organized by the Coordinating Council of the Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF). President Macron appeared at the traditional event wearing a forget-me-not and delivered a lengthy speech.
As reported earlier, the French leader announced his decision to add April 24 in the French calendar as the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims in his speech.
In their remarks, CCAF Co-Chairs Ara Toranian and Murad Papazian urged President Macron to denounce Turkey, which “is threatening the minorities". They also invited the French president to visit Nagorno-Karabakh.
Macron, however, backed his country’s political dialogue with Turkey, claiming they need allies to handle terrorism and migration crisis, “including those who do not share our values”.
“I will disappoint you again, but I will not accompany you to Karabakh, because I will lose all the use France has in this conflict [settlement process], that of being a mediator and being heard by both parties,” Macron said.
The French leader also expressed hope there will come a time when Karabakh conflict is settled.
"I hope to come with you to the day when everything is settled," he said.
Emmanuel Macron will pay a state visit to Armenia in October and will attend the 17th Summit of La Francophonie in Yerevan.
To note, the annual dinner was attended by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Turkish-Armenia lawmaker Garo Paylan, French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Patrick Devedjian as well as more than 500 representatives of the Armenian community of France.