The solemn ceremony of greeting the Armenian vessel of Kilikia was held July 3 in the Honorary Dock of the Marseilles port on the initiative of the RA Embassy in France, RA MFA press center reported. Armenian Ambassador Edward Nalbandian, heads of the Marseilles city administration, council of the province of Bouches-du-Rhone, senators, MPs and over a thousand representatives of the Armenian community of France were present at the ceremony. Welcoming the arrival of the vessel Edward Nalbandyan noted that Marseilles for many years has been a hospitable port for Armenians and it was also a life-saving coast for the Armenians, who survived the Genocide. "Kilikia is conveying us to the times when the Kilikian Kingdom and its vessels were welcome guests in the ports of the Mediterranean", the Armenian Ambassador to France stated. "It is symbolic that the ashes of last Kilikian king lie in the French ground near graves of the French kings, in the Saint Denis Basilique", he noted. The vessel will stay in the port till July 6.