The Palais du Pharo in Marseille, France, was illuminated in the colors of the Armenian flag in tribute to and in memory of the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the 1915 Armenian Genocide, ahead of the 111th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies shared the moment, stating, “The Palais du Pharo in Marseille is adorned in the colors of Armenia in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.”
The annual tribute highlighted Marseille’s longstanding connection to the Armenian people, as the city provided refuge to thousands of Armenian Genocide survivors and became home to a thriving Armenian community.
The illumination of one of Marseille’s most recognizable landmarks served as an act of remembrance, honoring both the victims of the genocide and the enduring presence of the Armenian people in the city more than a century later.
Special thanks were also extended to Mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan for continuing this meaningful tribute.
The Armenian Genocide was the culmination of decades of anti-Armenian persecution, following earlier large-scale massacres including the Hamidian massacres of the 1890s, which claimed up to 300,000 Armenian lives, and the Adana massacres of 1909, in which up to 30,000 Armenians were killed. It was a deliberate and systematic campaign of extermination carried out by the Ottoman Empire under the Young Turk regime beginning in 1915, leading to the murder of 1.5 million Armenians through massacres, death marches, starvation, deportation, and forced displacement from their ancestral homeland. It was not only the destruction of innocent lives, but also the attempted destruction of an entire civilization, its churches, schools, culture, and presence on its native land.
More than a century later, Turkey continues to deny this crime against humanity, adding denial to atrocity, while the Armenian people still await full justice in the form of truth, accountability, reparations, recognition, and restitution.
