Category: 2023

Le Monde with AFP

Missak Manouchian, an Armenian poet and communist fighter in World War II, will enter the Pantheon mausoleum and join an elite group of France's revered historical figures, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, June 18.

Known as being "pantheonized," the rare tribute is reserved for those who have played an important role in the country's history. Manouchian, who arrived in France in 1925 as a stateless refugee after fleeing violence, later joined the communist Resistance during World War II.

He led a small group of foreign Resistance fighters against the Nazi occupation, carrying out attacks on German forces and acts of sabotage in Nazi-occupied France in 1943. Macron said Manouchian "embodies the universal values" of France and "carries a part of our greatness."

In 1944, the group, which included a number of Jews, was put out of action when 23 of its members were rounded up and sentenced to death by a German military court. Manouchian was shot by the Nazis on February 21, 1944. The collaborationist Vichy regime later tried to discredit the group and defuse the anger over the executions in an infamous red poster depicting the dead fighters as terrorists.

By entering the Pantheon, Manouchian will become both the first foreign and communist Resistance fighter to be awarded the honour. Manouchian will enter the Pantheon alongside his wife Mélinée, who survived him by 45 years and is buried alongside him at the Ivry-sur-Seine cemetery.

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Macron paid tribute to Manouchian's "bravery" and "quiet heroism" in a statement Sunday, as well as to other foreign Resistance fighters. Other major French figures to be reburied in the Pantheon include Victor Hugo, Voltaire and Marie Curie.

On Sunday, Macron also decorated Robert Birenbaum – part of the foreign Resistance fighter group – at the Mont Valérien site where Manouchian and hundreds of other resistants were executed by the Nazis. The memorial coincided with the anniversary of the dramatic appeal of June 18, 1940, when Charles de Gaulle made a historic call to defy the Nazi occupiers after making his escape from a defeated France.

The call – widely seen as the start of the country's resistance movement – is marked every year at Mont Valérien by French leaders. Macron and assembled members of the government including Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne listened to the Appeal of June 18 read by French actor Philippe Torreton, before holding a period of reflection at the site.

The pantheonisation of Manouchian had been long called for by the French left, particularly the Communist Party. The party's national secretary in France, Fabien Roussel, said on Twitter that Manouchian symbolised a "certain idea of France: a political nation, made up of citizens of all origins, united by universal values".

Since 2017, Macron has pantheonised three others including the French-American dancer and rights activist Josephine Baker, who became the first black woman to be honoured at the site. Baker was also just the fifth woman to be honoured with a place in the secular temple to the heroes of the French Republic, which sits on a hill in the left bank of Paris. The move followed years of campaigning by her family and admirers for her place in French history to be recognised.

The tribute on Sunday also marks part of a long series of memorials leading up to the 80^th anniversary of the end of World War II, which are set to continue next year with events to commemorate the liberation of Paris.

Le Monde with AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Iran on Wednesday for opposing the Zangezur Corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia.

“Iran’s approach to this issue disappoints us and Azerbaijan,” Erdogan said while speaking to reporters on his way back from Baku.

“I wish that we can overcome this problem soon. If Iran would approach this positively, then Turkey-Azerbaijan-Iran would be linked to each other, and we can have a ‘Beijing-London’ line through land and railroads,” he added.

Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei emphasized this stance when he met with Erdogan in Tehran last July. The Turkish leader claimed that unlike Tehran, Yerevan does not object to the idea of the “Zangezur Corridor,” which he discussed with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during his visit to Baku.

Erdogan praised the visit by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Ankara to attend his inauguration as the 13th president of Turkey in early June.

“Pashinyan’s acceptance of our invitation was an important step. Mr. Pashinyan attended our ceremony after overcoming a lot of obstacles stemming from the opposition in his country,” he said.

Pashinyan’s government regularly rejects Azerbaijani demands for such a corridor and says it can only agree to conventional transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It has specifically made clear that Azerbaijani citizens and cargo passing through Syunik Province cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls.

Pashinyan and Aliyev openly argued about the matter during a Eurasian Economic Union summit in Moscow on May 25. Nevertheless, the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia reportedly made major progress on practical modalities of a rail linkup between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan during a subsequent meeting held in the Russian capital.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk met with Pashinyan and his Armenian counterpart, Mher Grigorian, in Yerevan on Wednesday for further discussions on the thorny issue. An Armenian government statement said they focused on the restoration of railroad linkup and “border and customs controls based on the sovereignty and equal jurisdiction of the parties,” but it did not elaborate.

Armenian genocide survivor and French Resistance hero Missak Manouchian will enter France’s Pantheon mausoleum of revered historical figures next year, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday.

"Manouchian carries a part of our greatness", Macron said in a statement, adding the French-Armenian poet and communist embodied France’s “universal values” of liberty, equality and fraternity.

He is to be inducted into the Panthéon – which already honours eight other French Resistance heroes, including Jean Moulin – on February 21, 2024.

"It is not just him who will be entering the Pantheon; it is the flame of the entire Resistance," said his great niece Missak Manouchian.

According to the wishes of his family, his wife Mélinée – also part of the resistance – will join him in the mausoleum, although she will not receive the “pantheonisation” of her husband.

After arriving in France as a stateless refugee in 1925, Manouchian led one of the most active armed groups against the Nazis.

The Manouchian group of foreign resistance fighters was made up of about 60 men and women, including a number of Jews, and was close to the French Communist Party (PCF).

Manouchian carried out nearly a hundred armed and sabotage operations in the Paris region, including the execution of SS General Julius Ritter, head of the compulsory labour, in September 1943.

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In 1944 the group was put out of action when 23 of its members were rounded up and sentenced to death by a German military court.

They were sentenced to death in 1944, with Manouchian shot by the Nazis on 21 February, 1944.

By entering the Pantheon, Manouchian will become both the first foreign and communist Resistance fighter to be awarded the honour.

Other major French figures to be reburied in the Pantheon, which sits on a hill in Paris’s Left Bank, include Victor Hugo, Voltaire and Marie Curie.

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20230618-french-armenian-resistance-hero-missak-manouchian-to-enter-panth%C3%A9on

President Emmanuel Macron will bring Missak Manouchian, a Resistance figure of Armenian origin, into the Pantheon, thus saluting his “bravery” and his “quiet heroism”announced Sunday the Elysée in a press release. “Missak Manouchian carries part of our greatness”he “embodies universal values” of liberty, equality, fraternity in the name of which he “defended the Republic”declares the Presidency of the Republic.

Military leader of a group of foreign resistance fighters in the Paris region, this survivor of the Armenian genocide was arrested in November 1943 and shot by the German army, at the age of 37, on February 21, 1944 at Mont-Valérien. He becomes the first foreign and communist resistant to enter the Pantheon. Since 2017, Emmanuel Macron has already pantheonized Simone Veil, Maurice Genevoix and Joséphine Baker.

Missak will enter the Pantheon “accompanied by Mélinee”, his wife of Armenian origin, resistant like him, who survived him 45 years and rests at his side in the cemetery of Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), specified the presidency. It was the wish of the family, as for Simone Veil and her husband Antoine, who entered the Pantheon in 2018. The Manouchian couple thus remain united in death, even if Mélinée is not herself pantheonized.

This announcement coincides with the 83rd anniversary of the Appeal of June 18, which the President will commemorate as every year in the morning at Mont-Valérien, near Paris, where a thousand resistance fighters and hostages, including Missak Manouchian, were executed by the German Army during the Occupation.

A survivor of the Armenian genocide, stateless, a refugee in France in 1925, Missak Manouchian joined the communist resistance in 1943 where he distinguished himself at the head of a very active network before being arrested and shot by the Germans on February 21, 1944. Celebrated by Aragon and Léo Ferré, Missak Manouchian also entered the collective memory with “The Red Poster”plastered all over Paris by Nazi propaganda during his trial to designate his group for punishment.“The Red Poster” is also the title of a film released in 1976 which immortalized the history of the Manouchian group on screen.

Before him, eight members of the Resistance have already been honored since the transfer of the ashes of Jean Moulin in 1964, including four – Pierre Brossolette, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Germaine Tillion and Jean Zay – under François Hollande in 2015.

“I am sure that the French people and all freedom fighters will be able to honor our memory with dignity”wrote Missak to Mélinée, just before dying, also proclaiming to have “no hatred against the German people”.

The pantheonization of Missak Manouchian was ardently desired by the French left, in particular the Communist Party.

“For us, the main thing is that it is a foreigner who died for France who enters the Pantheon”underlines the communist senator Pierre Ouzoulias, whose grandfather, Albert, was the leader of Missak Manouchian in the Resistance. “It says a lot about what the French Nation is”it’s a “a strong message of integration for young people today”he told AFP.

At the same time, 91 resistance fighters and foreign hostages shot like him at Mont-Valérien are also recognized “died for France”. At Mont-Valérien, the Head of State must collect his thoughts in the middle of the morning in the clearing of the Fusillés, where resistance fighters and hostages were executed.

He will decorate a former resistance fighter, Robert Birenbaum, who, like Missak Manouchian, came from the Francs-tireurs et partisans – Immigrant workforce (FTP-MOI) group. Georges Duffau-Epstein, son of resistance fighter Joseph Epstein who was arrested with Missak Manouchian during a clandestine meeting, will also be present.

The president will be accompanied by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Minister for the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Thierry Burkhard.

The Head of State will then hear the Appeal of June 18 and the Song of the Partisans before a time of meditation in the crypt of Mont-Valérien, where 16 resistance fighters, officers and soldiers who died for France in 1939-45 are buried. as well as Hubert Germain, the last Companion of the Liberation.

The tribute paid on Sunday is part of a long memorial sequence around the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War which will continue in 2024 with the Normandy landings and the Liberation of Paris.