On February 12, RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan received young French-Armenian singer, composer, producer, musical arranger Yesayi Altunyan.

Altunyan said his roots traced back to the Kharberd province of Western Armenia and that his grandfather was one of the eyewitnesses of the Armenian Genocide, adding that most of his grandfather’s relatives fell victim to the Turks’ yataghan and that now he keeps the memories of his grandfather alive and feels the sorrow. Yesayi has always maintain close ties with the French-Armenian community and has collaborated with Michel Legrand and other notable French-Armenians. He first visited Armenia via the “Land and Culture” Organization in 1997 and participated in the renovation of the church of Gogaran. Currently, he is the musical director for a French television station and has his own studio in France. He has composed music for a French-Algerian film that will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. He has also collaborated with Armenian television stations and is author of the script for the “Erebuni-Yerevan” video clip.

Greeting the guest, the minister said she was pleased with and took pride in Yesayi’s successes, especially on the occasion of the song “I Won’t Forget”, which is dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the shootings of which took place in France and Armenia.

The singer was very excited as he talked about the making of the music video for the song and emphasized that he had expressed all his desires and feelings while singing the song. “With this song I have made an attempt to tell the world that what happened to our ancestors will never be forgotten. Through song and music, I want to convey to the generations not only the pain and memories, but also the spirit to fight and believe. I want Turkey to understand that it’s impossible to continue like this and that it eventually has to apologize to the Armenian people. I consider it my mission.”

Minister Hranush Hakobyan introduced the singer to the main provisions stated in the Pan-Armenian Declaration on the Centennial of the Republic of Armenia read by the President of the Republic of Armenia and talked about opportunities for future collaboration. At the end, the minister gave the young singer the symbol of the year, that is, the Forget Me Not, as well as the album “Monuments of Sorrow, Remembrance and Struggle”, which has been published by the RA Ministry of Diaspora.