French intelligentsia and cultural figures express support for  Artsakh

ArmInfo.On the eve of Christmas, more than 200 French scholars, writers, actors and other cultural figures united by publishing an article in Le Figaro  newspaper, in support and solidarity with the Armenians of Artsakh.

In particular, the article was signed by: Jean Reno, Pierre Richard,  Claude Lelouch, Michel Onfray, Thierry Godard, Nicolas Aznavour,  Mathias Malzieu, Gilbert Sinoue, Nicolas Bary, Dominique Bertail, and  many others.

"Tonight, when many of us will reunite with our families and loved  ones for the celebration of Christmas, regardless of religious  affiliation, when many of us may think for a moment about all those  in the world who are lonely or suffering, remember the Armenians of  Artsakh (Mountain Karabakh), whom Azerbaijan has already cut off from  the outside world for two weeks.

At the moment when our children open their gifts, the parents of 30  thousand children of Nagorno-Karabakh will dream of only one thing -  that in these high mountains, where their ancestors were born more  than 2 thousand years ago, their children would live and have a  future," the article reads.

The authors note that after the 2020 war (the 44-day war in Artsakh,  unleashed by the Azerbaijani-Turkish tandem - ed.  note), which broke  so many lives, after phosphorus bombs, torture, the dictatorship of  Azerbaijan this time resorted to another meanness by closing the  Lachin corridor , which is the only road connecting Artsakh with the  outside world.  Families are separated, day by day there is a  shortage of essential goods, it is impossible to provide the  necessary medical care, as a result of which one person has already  died, the lives of many patients, including children, are under  threat.

"We admire the dignity and courage of these people who organized and  resisted instead of succumbing to panic. They resist and will resist  to the end. But they rely on us, and we cannot be deaf to their call.  It was on Christmas Day that the tyrant of oil and economic growth  decided to plunge the entire population of Artsakh into darkness and  cold.

What future will we leave for our children if we justify dictatorship  and barbarism in relation to one of our most ancient civilizations,  one of our fraternal peoples, a people that has been a bridge from  time immemorial for dialogue between different cultures.

What will our children think, what values will they grow up with, if  we allow the unthinkable to happen again?  Indifference and platonic  protests allow today's aggressors to shamelessly consider themselves  the descendants and executioners of 1915 (the year of the Armenian  Genocide in the Ottoman Empire - ed. note) and act in the same way to  destroy one nation that they hate because it is exactly like us. Is  our desire that the hateful horrors of the 20th century never be  repeated in our time, is it just a desire?

Is it really that in this world evil again wins, only because it has  benefits that it can sell and deliver to its neighbors?>, the source  notes.

Representatives of the creative intelligentsia of France assure that  the Armenian spirit lives in their masterpieces of Romanesque art, in  their culture stretching to the borders of the East, in the thoughts  of their philosophers of the Enlightenment, in romantic poetry, in  their struggle for justice, in the chords of their melodies and  bouquets of tulips that maybe this evening will be given to someone.

<Remember, in the end, the fact that we know what the Nativity of  Christ is also thanks to the Armenians, who in the 5th century sent  pilgrims to us with spiced bread, which is likely to be on our  festive table, and the names of the Magi, who came to worship the  baby Christ.

Let's remember and most importantly unite. With our common  conscience, our united voices, in every possible way that is  available to each of us, let's fight the tragedy that has already  begun. We can save 120 thousand Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh>, the  article reads.