On the evening of January 28, President of France Francois Hollande participated in the annual banquet hosted by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France. Among the attendees were President of France Francois Hollande, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, world famous Armenian singer and Armenia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Switzerland Charles Aznavour, Armenia’s Ambassador to France Vigen Chitechyan, prominent French-Armenian political figure and member of the right-wing political party Patrick Devedjian, Armenian professor of the University of Sorbonne Marc Mougalian, as well as French-Armenian public and political figures.

As reports Hayern Aysor, citing Nouvelles d’Arménie, the banquet was held at Hôtel du Collectionneur in Paris with the support of Francois Hollande. The events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the fight against denial of the Armenian Genocide, as well as issues related to human rights and security were discussed during the grand event. The participants of the event also touched upon the problems facing Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenians in the Near East.

In his speech, Hollande declared that the discussions on the drafting of a law criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide in France have begun and that France has trusted former president of the European Court of Human Rights Jean Paul Costa with drafting the law.

“I have urged Jean Paul Costa, who is one of our top lawyers, to find in French legislation any solid path that will undisputedly defend the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide,” Francois Hollande declared, and this was followed by rounds of applause from the attendees. The French president added that, in a short period of time, Jean Paul Costa would try to find all the guarantees to make sure there would be no legal discrepancies in the law from now on.

The President of France also assured that his pledge to pass the draft law criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide had nothing to do with the elections. “The objective is to reconcile. Armenia and Turkey must always know that France always stands by their side to help them establish dialogue,” Hollande said.

In his turn, President of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France Mourad Papazian responded to President Hollande and mentioned that was proud of the fact that he stood by Armenia’s side in 2015. “In 2016, 500,000 French citizens of Armenian descent will follow you as you take action to fulfill their most cherished desire,” Papazian said, who also posted his speech on his Facebook page.