YEREVAN.- We should have worked with Charles Aznavour here today, President of France Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday in Aznavour Center, in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.

“He really wanted this meeting. We talked about this with him during our last meeting. Aznavour wanted it to be in this country, in this language, along with his family. Everything was prepared carefully. 

Last week we bid farewell to him in Paris. We thanked him. We are here today, staying true to our promise. We are here to continue his struggle. And his struggle, first of all, was for Armenia, so that the Armenian people would lift their heads, resist the wounds of history and remember who he was.

He is a hero here and, first of all, because after the Spitak earthquake in 1988 he swore to his country that it would sing again, and its sons would rebuild the country. He stayed true to his promise.

And we are here at the moment when Armenia is writing a new page of its history, wants to create its future, to realize its dreams in peaceful conditions.

I came here for one important event related to the OIF. And 2018 will remain forever in the history of Armenia: the 100th anniversary of the First Republic, the velvet revolution that surprised the whole world, a farewell to Charles Aznavour.

I will return here to discuss without haste the processes of deepening the dynamics of our economic, cultural and educational ties," Macron said.