"I am often asked how I can sing at the age of 89. I often reply that life is an eternal engine. We are born to die, but we must live a long and glorious life before we die. If our two peoples - Armenians and Jews - did not love to live, we would disappear from the Earth yet long ago," renowned French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour told reporters in Tel-Aviv.
"My friends, French Jews, are well informed of the Armenian tragedy. I think, everyone knows about it. However, Israelis have a problem with the word 'genocide', as it is translated into Hebrew as 'Shoah,' which is associated with the tragedy of the European Jews and not of Armenians. That is the problem, I think. I would like to reiterate that I don't think of political problems all the daylong. My wife is a protestant, I am a Christian, my grandson lives in a family of Jews, my granddaughter is a Muslim from Algeria, my son's wife is a Catholic. A true Benetton family! And we have very good relations. If we fail to understand each other, it is our guilt, as we don't want to understand and accept others," Aznavour said in response to the questions about international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Asked if he is going to raise the Genocide issue at the French Government, Aznavour said half-joking that he was going to meet with Israel President Simon Peres on 22 November, as they are old friends, culbyt.com reports. Aznavour is expected to perform in Tel-Aviv on 23 November.