Nice Mayor Éric Ciotti intends to propose granting honorary citizenship of the city to 20 Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan, calling for their immediate and unconditional release.
The announcement was made on October 22 during an event held at Nice City Hall, attended by representatives of the local Armenian community and French historian Jean-Christophe Buisson. During the event, photographs of the 20 Armenians held in Baku, including former political and military leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, were displayed in front of City Hall alongside ribbons in the colors of Armenia's national flag.
Ciotti condemned the continued imprisonment of the Armenians, accusing the authorities in Baku of attempting to erase them from public memory. He assured those present that Nice would continue to fight for their release.
The event also addressed Azerbaijan's military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, which resulted in more than 100,000 Armenians being subjected to ethnic cleansing and forcibly displaced from their historical homeland.
Recalling that Nice had once provided refuge to Armenians who survived the Armenian Genocide, Ciotti emphasized the historical ties between the city and the Armenian people. “Nice recognizes your faces and knows your names. Nice does not forget you,” he declared.
The initiative to grant honorary citizenship would be a symbolic gesture of solidarity, but the relevant decision has not yet been formally adopted. Earlier, on October 3, Ciotti had signed a statement alongside 24 other French politicians calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Armenians held in Azerbaijan.
Nice's initiative illustrates how local authorities can draw international attention to the issue of Armenian prisoners. If approved by the city authorities, honorary citizenship would not, in itself, secure their release in legal terms, but it could help keep the issue on the public agenda.
The mayor's statement also links the current demand to the historical relationship between Nice and the Armenian community. The practical impact of this show of solidarity will depend not only on the symbolic gesture but also on how consistently the call for release is pursued. At present, there is no information confirming the initiative's formal approval, so it should be distinguished from a decision that has already been adopted.
