2024-07-23 01:18:27
On July 14, Paris published the names of new knights of the Legion of Honor. This “glorious” list included the co-chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) Frank Murad Papazian.
This award for “outstanding achievements” and “personal services to the nation” has been given to Armenians before. As we reported earlier, Pastor Rene Leonian, president of the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches of Eurasia and an ardent supporter of Armenian separatism, was also “honored” with this title.
As reported by Day.Az, Jean-Michel Brun, editor-in-chief of the Parisian online newspaper La Gazette du Caucase, in his article talks about Papazian’s activities and the true reasons for the decision of French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to grant him this “honor”.
“There is no doubt that Papazian received this award for representing the Armenian Diaspora, not for his own merits. He is an ardent supporter of the “Armenization” of Karabakh and one of the most influential Armenian lobbyists in France. Through his 38 journalism schools across the country, he spreads the views of the Armenian separatists among future journalists,” Brune writes.
The author also highlighted that Papazian is considered a vocal opponent of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, openly criticizing the current Armenian government and seeking to overthrow it: “Papazian even organized an attack on Nikol Pashinyan’s motorcade during his visit to France on June 1, 2021, which resulted in him being banned from entering Armenia for two years. After the ban was lifted, Papazian met with Bagrat Serpazan, with whom he discussed overthrowing the Armenian government.”
“Sources close to Armenian circles report that Murad Papazian was outraged that his friend Gabriel Attal awarded the Legion of Honor to Pastor Rene Leonian instead of him. So Attal decided to correct this “injustice” before leaving his post,” the article says.
Brun also suggests that Emmanuel Macron’s endorsement of Papazian’s order could be perceived as an insult to the Armenian government. “It is likely that Macron wanted to send a positive signal to the Armenian community, whose support he could again seek in future elections,” the author concludes.