Mayor of the French city of Lyon Georges Képénékian visited the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan on Monday, March 5, French ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte said in a tweet. ‏ The envoy described the visit as “touching”, posting pictures of Képénékian planting a tree and leaving a note in the Book of Memories.

“At this moment, I can only remain silent. Our roots lie deep but we will try to break this chain. New shoots show the ability of our people to revive. Long live our people! Long live Armenia!,” Képénékian wrote.

Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as Genocide.

Turkey denies to this day.