Barring prominent figures of the French diaspora is unworthy conduct by the RA government

The National Bureau of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) has expressed its displeasure at the decision by the Government of the Republic of Armenia to deny a number of prominent representatives of the French-Armenian community, CCAF co-chairs Ara Torounian and Mourad Papazian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of France Bishop Grigor Khachatryan, and Artsakh’s representative in France Hovhannes Gevorgyan, the opportunity to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new RA Embassy building in Paris.

“We consider and characterize this decision as a regrettable mistake. The embassy represents the Armenian state and, moreover, the Armenian people in all their diversity. It is the common home of the entire nation, a place where Armenia should appear in its fullness, diversity, and dignity, rising above current disagreements and partisan calculations.

By restricting the access of recognized representatives of the French-Armenian community, the RA government is departing from its calling to unite the nation. To exclude Ara Torounian and Mourad Papazian, whose names are inseparably linked to decades of struggle for the memory and recognition of the Genocide and for the defense of the dignity of the Armenian people, reflects a limited understanding of the diaspora’s true role.

The CCAF is not an ordinary association, but one of the principal representative bodies of Armenians in France. To exclude its democratically elected leaders is to strip the organized diaspora of a significant share of its representation.

To exclude Bishop Grigor Khachatryan is to deeply insult the Armenian Apostolic Church, a centuries-old institution that has survived massacres, genocide, and the dispersal of the people, and remains to this day the most vital spiritual pillar of our nation. It should be noted that since 1995, it is the Armenian Apostolic Church that has provided the current embassy building to the RA free of charge.

To exclude Hovhannes Gevorgyan, Artsakh’s representative in France, is to send a negative signal to French political circles regarding the cause of protecting the rights of the 120,000 Artsakh Armenians who were expelled from their homeland, forced into exile, and stripped of everything,” the statement from the National Bureau of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France reads.