The ex-polemicist had made his first trip abroad, on the theme of "the war of civilization".

Armenia, "a martyr land", is "in danger", had launched this follower of the conspiracy theory of the "great replacement" of European populations by immigrants.

Wedged between Turkey in the west and Azerbaijan in the east, two Muslim countries, Armenia, the first Christian state in history (4th century), waged a short but bloody war in the fall of 2020 in Baku, supported by Ankara, for the control of the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians.

The conflict has left 6,500 dead.

Defeated, Yerevan was forced to sign a ceasefire and cede to Azerbaijan several regions forming a glacis around Nagorno-Karabakh, which had freed itself from Baku's tutelage after the fall of the USSR.

Several incidents have since raised fears of renewed fighting.

Presidential candidate Eric Zemmour with sovereignist Philippe de Villiers, at the Memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide, in Yerevan (Armenia), December 12, 2021 Karen MINASYAN AFP / Archives

Armenia, a former Soviet republic, is "a Christian nation (...) in the middle of an Islamic ocean", had insisted Eric Zemmour, while the religious dimension was not central in the recent conflict, the Azerbaijan being one of the most secular countries in the world.

Sudden infatuation

Just like the far-right candidate, Valérie Pécresse registers her trip in "support for Eastern Christians just before Christmas", according to those around her.

Like Mr. Zemmour, who had attended a mass at the monastery of Khor Virap, the first holy place in the country, the candidate of the Republicans (right), visited several Christian sites.

Press conference Valérie Pécresse, LR presidential candidate, December 21, 2021 in Yerevan (Armenia) KAREN MINASYAN AFP

First, the memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide - which caused between 600,000 and 1.5 million deaths in 1915-1916 under the Ottoman Empire and which Ankara refuses to recognize, unlike some thirty countries, including France - and the Holy See of the Armenian Church near Yerevan.

She then went to a military cemetery, and then met the head of diplomacy Ararat Mirzoian and President Armen Sarkissian.

"We must mobilize all of Europe around this conflict, it is not a conflict in the Caucasus, it is a conflict that affects Europe, because when we attack Christians from the East (...), we are also attacking the foundations of European civilization, "said the candidate during a press conference.

The sudden enthusiasm for this small Caucasian country seems to be part of an omnipresent theme in the French countryside, particularly on the right: Islam.

Presidential candidate Eric Zemmour with sovereignist Philippe de Villiers, visiting Yerevan (Armenia), December 12, 2021 Karen MINASYAN AFP / Archives

"Armenia is a destination seen as the watchtower (a watchtower, editor's note) at the outpost of Christianity", observes Taline Ter Minassian, a historian specializing in the region, interviewed by AFP.

After Lebanon in the 1980s, then Iraq-Syria, where the Islamic State group increased the atrocities against Christians in 2014-2015, Armenia became a "new stake in a competition to capture the Catholic electorate conservative ", observes in a report the Foundation Jean Jaurès, the French right having an" old tradition of protection of the Christians of the East ".

"Higher forces"

On the left, the socialist candidate Annie Hidalgo does not exclude an Armenian trip.

"Everything is possible, but nothing is mentioned in the agenda for the moment," the entourage of the mayor of Paris told AFP.

In mid-December, Ms. Hidalgo inaugurated an "Esplanade d'Arménie" in the French capital, recalling "Paris' unwavering attachment to the Armenian people", "which defends its right to exist".

The religious question had never been mentioned in his speech.

Depending on the political position, Armenia thus allows different reading grids.

"There is an honest approach: it is democracy in the face of dictatorship, it is the defense of human rights", says Jules Boyadjian, the president of the Committee for the defense of the Armenian cause, a French association, which salutes "the particular history between Armenia and France".

Some 500,000 people of Armenian origin live in France, according to him, whose votes could also count in an election promising to be close.

"We do not want to lock the Armenian cause into a conflict of civilizations which simply feeds internal political patterns", he denounces, however.

Ara Toranian, editor of the monthly "Nouvelles d'Arménie", is less definitive.

"We are not in a situation where we can afford to reject those who extend their hand to us," he sighs.

"Armenia can die overnight as it is surrounded by forces which are superior to it."

lnf-caz-vl-jf / lp / cs / sg / as

© 2021 AFP