France declares April 24 as "a national day of remembrance of the Armenian genocide"

France 24 reports that President Emmanuel Macron during his speech for the Armenian community at a dinner in Paris, 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 recognized it in law." France "will in the next weeks make April 24 a national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide," he added.

Macron's remarks at the dinner, organized by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France, honored a campaign promise from his election in 2017.

At the event, Macron also paid tribute to Charles Aznavour, the French crooner of Armenian origin who died in October last year.

According to Euronews Macron said he informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the decision in advance, adding that he wanted to keep an open dialogue with Turkey.

"We have disagreements over the fight against the Islamic State, human rights and civil liberties in Turkey and on the genocide," Macron said.

Prepared by Marina Muradyan