A Center for Armenian Genocide Remembrance will open in Paris ahead of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The Center for Armenian Genocide Remembrance is the initiative of the ARF-D Armenian National Committee and will open with the support of President of France Francois Hollande. “Francois Hollande is the driving force for this project. He wants this to become a success. When the members of the local Armenian community met with Hollande in 2012, they discussed this issue, and Hollande approved.

Throughout the years, Hollande has always been interested in the stages of the project. He has assigned Paris Municipality to support the project and allocate an area for the center. Basically, government bodies have combined efforts to turn this into reality,” member of the ARF-D Armenian National Committee Mourad Papazian said in an interview with “Armenpress” and added that the parties are looking for an adequate building. According to the agreement, Paris Municipality will allocate a building to the Armenian community for the opening of the Center, but the building will belong to the municipality, not the Armenian community. Mourad Papazian emphasized the fact that the Center for Armenian Genocide Remembrance will most likely open in the fall. The Center will have an exhibition hall and offices where university students will be able to conduct research. The Center will also have a hall for lectures, meetings and conferences with representatives of the Armenian National Committee and the local Armenian community. Although the Center will be a center for remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, there will also be events and lectures devoted to other crimes against humanity. In addition to the opening of the Remembrance Center, there are other programs and events that will be held in France on the occasion of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. In March, the University of Sorbonne will host a four-day international conference. The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and Paris Municipality will hold a three-month exhibition showcasing samples of the Museum-Institute. “There are hundreds of other events, including exhibitions and book publications. There are agreements with several television stations to broadcast films devoted to the Armenian Genocide. We have reached agreements to have France’s largest media outlets provide coverage of the events and publish articles devoted to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide,” Mourad Papazian said, adding that commemoration of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide must serve for recognition of the Armenian Genocide and reparations.