Monday, September 30 2019 12:56

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign  Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, as part of a working visit to Paris  today, will take part in the funeral ceremony of ex-French President  Jacques Chirac. ArmInfo was informed about this in the press service  of the RA MFA.

 Note that world leaders come to Paris to say goodbye  to former French President Jacques Chirac.  An official funeral  ceremony will be held today at the Saint-Sulpice Church. A total of  about 80 world leaders are expected to arrive.

On the eve of September 29, thousands of Frenchmen came to pay  tribute to the ex-president. The ceremony is non-official, it took  place on the territory of the historic House of Disabled. The line of  people stretched for hundreds of meters. Those who wanted to say  goodbye to Chirac spent several hours on the street in the rain.

Monday in France declared the day of national mourning. Jacques  Chirac died last Thursday at the age of 86. He served as president  from 1995 to 2007. The former leader will be buried today in the  Montparnasse cemetery near the place where his eldest daughter is  resting.

Jacques Chirac was a great friend of the Armenian people. He was  personally involved in the Karabakh conflict settlement process,  during public speeches he always spoke out in support of Armenia,  highly appreciated the friendship between the Armenian and French  peoples. In 2006, Chirac paid a state visit to Armenia. The opening  ceremony of the French Square in Yerevan was dedicated to his visit.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by France precisely during the  presidency of Jacques Chirac. In 1998, the French National Assembly  passed a law recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and in 2000 a similar  law was passed by the Senate. In 2001, both houses of parliament  passed a law recognizing the Armenian Genocide. In October 2006, the  Lower House of the French Parliament, the National Assembly, approved  a bill under which denial of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman  Empire in 1915-17 was criminalized. Denial of the massacre of  Armenians is punishable by imprisonment for one year and a fine of 45  thousand euros.

Jacques Chirac himself not only recognized the Armenian Genocide, but  also repeatedly called on Turkey to do so.