During this Christmas period, more than 200 intellectuals, writers, artists and cultural figures, including Sylvain Tesson, Carole Bouquet and Philippe Katerine, and many other outstanding French, are mobilizing for the 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, threatened with ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan.

The RA Embassy in France informs:

The article is available at the following link: https://www.lefigaro.fr/…/il-faut-sauver-les-120-000…

Below is the Armenian translation of the article.

“We must save the 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh!”

During this Christmas period, more than 200 intellectuals, writers, artists and cultural figures, including Sylvain Tesson, Carole Bouquet and Philippe Katerine, are mobilizing for the 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, threatened with ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan.

During this Christmas period when we will join our loved ones, where we will rejoice in celebrating the family beyond all religious borders, where many of us will perhaps have a thought for those who are alone or in pain, let us remember us as the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, have been cut off for almost two weeks from the rest of the world by Azerbaijan.

At a time when our children will discover their gifts, the parents of the 30,000 children of Nagorno-Karabakh will aspire to one thing only: to preserve the life, the future of theirs in these high mountains where their ancestors were born more than two thousand years, and save them from slow asphyxiation.

After the war, after the phosphorus bombs, the tortures, which shattered so many lives in 2020, this is indeed the last perversion conceived by the Azerbaijani dictatorship: blocking the Lachin corridor, the only access route for the Armenians of Artsakh / Nagorno-Karabakh outwards. Consequence: separated families, shortages worsening day by day, the absence of medical help which has already cost a life and threatens several patients in critical care, including children.

Admirable courage of these people full of dignity, who do not give in to panic and organize themselves, because they resist and will resist until the end. But they are counting on us, and we cannot escape their call. Strange Christmas 2022. We are celebrating the birth of a king of poverty and straw who has come to bring the warmth of his light to men. It is this date that a dictator of oil and growth points deliberately chooses to plunge a population into night and cold.

What future will we offer our children, if we give reason to dictatorship, to barbarism, against one of our oldest civilizations, against a brotherly people, linked to us for centuries, against a bridge people who has always contributed to the dialogue between cultures?

What will our children think, on what values ​​will they be able to build themselves, if we let the unthinkable happen again? Yes, happen again. Indifference, platonic protests authorize today’s aggressors to shamelessly claim to be the executioners of 1915, their sinister heritage, to use the same methods to put an end to those they abhor, because those people are like us.

Thus our wishes that never the abominations of the 20th century reproduce themselves in our century were only pious and irenic wishes. So in this world the wicked always triumph as long as they have things to sell and provide to their neighbors.

The soul of the Armenians  indeed inhabits our masterpieces of Romanesque art, the influence of our culture to the confines of the Orient, the thought of our philosophers of the Enlightenment, romantic poetry, our fights for justice, our accordion tunes, and the bouquet of tulips you may offer on Saturday evening.

Finally, let us remember that if we know about Christmas, the Armenians no doubt had something to do with it, they who sent us their pilgrims in the fifth century, they who gave us the gingerbread that will garnish our tables and the Magi who came to see the Christ Child.

Let us remember and above all, let us mobilize. From our united consciences, from our united voices, from all the ways in which each of us will oppose the drama that is being played out, we will be able to preserve the lives of the 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Signatures:

Sylvain Tesson, writer

Pascal Bruckner, writer and philosopher

Michel Onfray, philosopher

Carole Bouquet, actress

Claude Lelouch, filmmaker

Philippe Katerine, actor and singer

Enki Bilal, comic book author

Stéphane Bern, animator, actor and writer

Virginie Ledoyen, actress

David Foenkinos, novelist and director

Pascal Légitimus, actor and director

Sinclair, composer and singer

Alexandre Jardin, writer

Roschdy Zem, actor and director

Pascal Ory, from the French Academy

Marc Dugain, writer and filmmaker

André Manoukian, songwriter and musician

Marc Coppey, cellist

Franz-Olivier Giesbert, journalist and writer

Mischa Aznavour, producer, novelist

Nicolas Aznavour, co-founder of the Aznavour Foundation

Jean Reno, actor

Michel Quint, writer

Bishop Pascal Gollnisch, Director General of the Œuvre d’Orient

Jean-Marie Rouart, of the French Academy

Sorj Chalandon, writer

Costa Gavras, filmmaker

Michel Drucker, television presenter

Daniel Pennac, writer

Pierre Richard, actor

Line Renaud, actress

Pierre Mazeaud, former President of the Constitutional Council

Robert Redeker, philosopher

Benoît Duteurtre, writer

Raphael Personnaz, actor

Philippe Jaenada, writer

Mathias Malzieu, singer and writer

Pierre Jolivet, filmmaker

Dominique Bona, from the French Academy

Gilbert Sinoué, writer

Frédéric Vitoux, of the French Academy

Jean Tulard, of the Institute

Simon Abkarian, actor

Bruno Abraham-Kremer, actor and director

Jean Achache, filmmaker

Luc Adrian, journalist

Antoine Agoudjian, photographer

Alain Altinoglu, conductor

Ardavan Amir-Aslani, lawyer

Jean-Baptiste Andrea, writer

Gorune Aprikian, filmmaker

Marie-Claude Arbaudie, producer

Gilles Arbona, actor

Christian Ardan, producer

François Ardillier-Carras, university professor

Ariane Ascaride, actress

Asilva, painter

Annick Asso, Doctor of Letters

Serge Avedikian, filmmaker

Barbara Balestas Kazazian, filmmaker

Elisabeth Barillé, writer

Nicolas Bary, filmmaker and president of Screens of Peace

Rodolphe Barsikian, plastic designer

Frederique Bel, actress

François-Xavier Bellamy, associate professor of philosophy

Alix Bénézech, actress

Alain Berliner, filmmaker

Dominique Bertail, author, cartoonist

Ludovic Berthillot, actor

Antoine Bordier, writer

Claire-Marie Bronx, composer and singer

Laurent Brunner, director of the Royal Opera and the Palace of Versailles

Jean-Christophe Buisson, Deputy Director of Figaro Magazine

Mireille Calmels, novelist

David Camus, writer

Christian Carion, filmmaker

Jean des Cars, historian

Virginie Carton, journalist and writer

Louis Carzou, journalist and writer

Olivier Casas, filmmaker

Antoine Chereau, draftsman

Eric Chol, journalist

Joseph Chedid, composer and singer

Jean-François Colosimo, editor

Jean-Luc Cornette, comic book author

Lola Créton, actress

Anahit Dasseux-Ter Mesropian, psychoanalyst

Arnaud Delalande, author, screenwriter

Marina Dédéyan, writer

Alexandre Del Valle, essayist

Quentin Delcourt, filmmaker

Olivier Delorme, writer and historian

Annie Degroote, writer and actress

Hugues Dewavrin, vice-president of the Guild and the Screens of Peace

Jérôme Diamant-Berger, filmmaker

Benjamin Diebling, video game director

Hamza Djenat, photographer

Nicolas Djermag, actor

Evelyne Dress, filmmaker

Isabelle Duha, pianist

Ron Dyens, film producer

Atom Egoyan, filmmaker

Marielle Elis, producer

Frédéric Encel, essayist

Véronique Fauconnet, artistic director of theatre, actress

Charlene Favier, filmmaker

Pierre Filmon, filmmaker

Loïc Finaz, marine writer

Elsa Flageul, writer

Lorraine Fouchet, writer

Dan Frank, writer

Deborah François, actress

Patrice Franceschi, writer

Olivier Frébourg, writer and editor

Antoine Gariel, theater director

Costanza Gastaldi, photographer

Eric Genetet, writer

Ronan Girre, filmmaker

Thierry Godard, actor

Nina Goern, singer of Cats on Trees

Alain Grandgerard, producer

Yulia Grigoryants, photographer

Robert Guediguian, filmmaker

Enguerrand Guépy, writer

Sophie Guillemin, actress

David Haroutunian, violinist

Roland Hayrabedian, conductor

Catherine Hermary-Vieille, novelist and biographer

Patrick Hernandez, producer, distributor

Jeanne Herry, filmmaker

Jacqueline Hillion, National Education official

François Huguenin, historian, essayist

Nadia Jandeau, director

Annabelle Jacquemin-Guillaume, president of Fama

Emmanuel Jaffelin, philosopher

Michele Kahn, writer

Valerie Karsenti, actress

Baya Kasmi, filmmaker

Shahe Kazan, painter

Robert Kechichian, filmmaker

François-Xavier Kelidjian, lawyer

Raymond Kevorkian, historian

Gérard Krawczyk, filmmaker

Michaël Langlois, historian

Alexandra Lapierre, writer

Thomas Le Carpentier, archaeologist

Michel Leclerc, filmmaker

Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, musician

Anne Le Ny, actress and filmmaker

Jacques Le Rider, director of studies at EHESS

Pauline Liétard, journalist and director

Carolina Lerena, producer

Jean-Karl Lucas, composer

Joseph Macé-Scaron, essayist and novelist

Caroline Madsac, co-president of the Darfur emergency collective

Jean-Pierre Mahé, historian

Sophie Makariou, Honorary President of the Guimet Museum

Michel Marian, historian

Elisa Mahé-Binet, writer

Christian Makarian, essayist and journalist

Jacky Mamou, President of the Darfur Emergency Collective

Bruno Mantovani, composer and conductor

Aida Marcossian, pianist

Gabriel Martinez-Gros, historian

Cécile Massie, photographer and general secretary of the Screens of Peace

Nathalie Marchak, filmmaker

Andrea Marcolongo, essayist

Nora Martirosyan, director

Guillaume Maurice, producer

Amélie Melkonian, producer

Benoît Menut, composer

Radu Mihaileanu, filmmaker

Thibault de Montaigu, journalist and writer

Jean-David Morvan, comic book scriptwriter

Alain Navarra de Borgia, sociologist and art historian

Lola Naymark, actress and director

Valérie Osouf, filmmaker

Alexandre Pachulski, writer

Taline Papazian, political scientist

Julie Paratian, producer

Laurent Perez Del Mar, composer

Michel Petrossian, composer

Antoine Pierlot, cellist

Jean-Marc Philips-Varjabédian, violinist

Anne Plantey, actress

Gilles Pointeau, graphic designer

Patrick Radelet, musician, composer

Henri Roanne-Rosenblatt, writer-screenwriter

Yves Roucaute, philosopher

Maya Sansa, actress

Isabelle Saporta, editor

Sylvain Savoia, author, cartoonist

Levon Sayan, producer

Fabrice Scott, actor

Séra, visual artist

Idir Serghine, filmmaker

Pr Alain Serrie, Honorary President of Pain Without Borders

Bernard Shalscha, journalist

Stéphane Simon, producer and journalist

Astrig Siranossian, cellist

Marzena Sowa, author, documentary filmmaker

Nicolas Steil, producer and director

Maud Tabachnik, writer

Akli Tadjer, writer

Alain Terzian, producer and director

Marine de Tilly, journalist and essayist

Ara Toranian, journalist

Valérie Toranian, journalist and writer

Marie-Claude Treilhou, filmmaker

Fanny Valette, actress

Olivier-Thomas Venard, theologian

Dan Verlinden, comic book author

Arnaud Viard, filmmaker

Virginie Visconti, producer

Olivier Weber, writer, journalist, president of “Pain Without Borders”

Charles Wright, writer

Tigran Yegavian, journalist and essayist

Benoît Yvert, editor

Corinne Zarzavatdjian, actress and writer

Henry Zipper de Fabiani, former ambassador