PARIS. – Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë received on Tuesday French-Armenians and the Armenia’s Ambassador to France Vigen Chitechian,  Nouvelles d`Arménie reports.

“We are responsible for remembering that period of history. 97 years later, it is necessary to speak about the facts and validate the historic truth,” the Mayor stated calling the Genocide was a barbarism for humanity.

According to Ara Toranian and Mourad Papazian, the two heads of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF), the French presidential candidates Nikolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande will attend Komitas monument in the Canada Square to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Genocide.

The world commemorates on April 24 the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century.

Commemoration actions are held in all states, people remember this monstrous crime against humanity as over one and a half million innocent Armenians were massacred in the Ottoman Empire, while hundreds of thousands were tortured and deported.

The fact of the Armenian Genocide is recognized by many states. It was first recognized in 1965 by Uruguay. In general, the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey has already been recognized by Russia, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, and 42 U.S. states.