On Thursday, April 24, 2025, Nice commemorated the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. A solemn march, poignant speeches, and a ceremony at the Jardin de l’Arménie all paid homage to the victims and reaffirmed the importance of the duty to remember.
On this emotionally charged Thursday, the city of Nice gathered to commemorate the 110 years of the Armenian Genocide. A solemn march, punctuated by traditional music and incense, brought together citizens, elected officials, religious representatives, and members of the Armenian community, united in a shared momentum of memory and recognition.
The procession started from Place Masséna at noon, heading towards Jardin de l’Arménie. Leading it were Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, accompanied by the Very Reverend Father Khatchadour Boghossian, the spiritual guide of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the city. At the end of the march, a wreath was laid in front of the memorial stone, followed by a moment of silence and the performance of the Armenian and French anthems.
A speech of anger against these injustices
In a speech imbued with solemnity and firmness, Maguy Georgian, president of the Armenian cultural center of Nice and the Côte d’Azur, recalled the still vivid pain of an uprooted people: “what our ancestors experienced is an open wound, a cry that crosses generations.”
She also denounced the hypocrisy of some international relations: “in reality, Europe continues to buy gas from Azerbaijan, an authoritarian regime that persecutes, erases, and denies.”
The president called not to forget the 23 Armenian hostages still held in Azerbaijan, and to be outraged by provocations such as the inauguration, at the end of March, of an avenue named after Enver Pasha in the capital of Artsakh, now occupied. Enver Pasha was one of the architects behind the Armenian Genocide. In response, she asked, “Can we imagine a street in Europe named Adolf Hitler without any international reaction?“
Christian Estrosi seized the opportunity: “we share this anger with conviction,” he declared, recalling the painful history of the 250 Armenians arrested 110 years ago and the massacres preceding 1915, since 1895.
The Jardin de l’Arménie, which hosted the ceremony, is becoming more than ever a place of remembrance. As a final tribute, the people of Nice were able to lay a white rose at the memorial stone, while the sounds of the duduk, an emblematic instrument of Armenian culture, rose in the contemplative silence of the garden.
This day of April 24, now recognized in France as the national day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, reaffirms the importance of memory in the face of oblivion, and respect in the face of denial.
