French ambassador to Armenia welcomes planned inscription of names of  Raphael Lemkin and French Admiral Louis Dartige du Fournet on  Memorial Wall at Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex

ArmInfo.  French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies has posted the following message on his X account: 

"The names of Raphael Lemkin and French Admiral Louis Dartige du  Fournet will soon be added to the Memorial Wall located at the  Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. This was announced by the  Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Edita Gzoyan. The  Memorial Wall honors individuals who have spoken out about the  Armenian Genocide. Among the names already inscribed are Fridtjof  Nansen, Anatole France, Henry Morgenthau, and others. Raphael Lemkin  is one of the founders of genocide studies, the author of the term  "genocide," and one of the initiators of the UN Convention on the  Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. His name will be  added to the Memorial Wall on June 24, his birthday. Louis Dartige du  Fournet organized the evacuation of about 4,000 Armenians during the  heroic self-defense of Musa Dagh, saving their lives."

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) Edita  Gzoyan reported on April 21 that two new names will appear on the  wall of memory in the Tsitserankaberd memorial complex to the victims  of the Armenian Genocide: genocide scholar Raphael Lemkin and French  general Louis Dartige du Fournet. 

In the fall of 1915, Louis Dartige du Fournet gave an unauthorized  order to evacuate more than 4,000 Armenian men, women, and children.  If not for du Fournet's courage, these people would have perished in  the foothills of Musa Dagh in the southeast of modern-day Turkey.  This story began in the summer of 1915, when most residents of six  Armenian villages refused to join the columns of Armenians who were  to be deported by order of the Turkish authorities. The few who did  decide to obey were sent on a death march. Almost all of them died on  the way, never reaching the Syrian desert. The remaining villagers -  about 5,000 people left their homes and took refuge in the foothills  of Musa Dagh (Mount Moses or Jebel Musa). There they organized a  militia and courageously fought off Turkish attacks for more than  fifty days.  Among the Armenians, there were only 600 fighters.

On September 5, when the Musa Dagh people had been fighting for a  month, the crew of the French warship Guichen saw their signals. One  of the militia members, Pierre Dimlakian, reached the cruiser,  boarded it and directly addressed the French commander asking for  help. He promised to do everything possible.

According to the diary entry of Louis du Fournet, on September 6,  1915, the vice admiral received a telegram describing the situation  and changed the ship's course. The next day, the flagship Saint  Jeanne d'Arc approached the shore to conduct reconnaissance. This  time, one of the militia leaders, Tigran Andreasian, boarded it. He  asked to take away at least those who were not participating in the  fighting:  women, children and the elderly. He was again assured that  the French fleet would come to the aid of the Armenians.

"I realized that it was our duty to help these unfortunates," du  Fournet wrote in his diary. He sent an urgent telegram, but feared  that the slow bureaucracy of the French command could turn into a  tragedy for the besieged.

Risking his career, the vice-admiral, without waiting for a response,  ordered all the ships at his disposal to head for Musa Dagh and begin  the evacuation immediately.

"There was no time to wait. Whatever the answer, everyone had to be  evacuated," wrote du Fournet, whose words are quoted by the Aurora  humanitarian initiative.