Editing Charles Aznavour (section)

=== Political involvement ===
{{quote box
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| quote  = Though he is considered the embodiment of Frenchness, Charles Aznavour is in fact a proud Armenian without a corpuscle of French blood in his body.
| source = &nbsp;—[[Herbert Kretzmer]], Aznavour's long-time English lyric writer, 2014<ref>{{cite book|last=Kretzmer|first=Herbert|author-link1=Herbert Kretzmer|title=Snapshots: Encounters with Twentieth-Century Legends|chapter=Charles Aznavour - Troubadour|date=2014|publisher=[[Biteback Publishing]]}}</ref>}}

Aznavour was increasingly involved in French, Armenian and international politics as his career progressed. During the [[2002 French presidential election]]s, when far-right nationalist [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]] of the [[National Front (France)|National Front]] made it into the runoff election, facing incumbent [[Jacques Chirac]], Aznavour signed the "Vive la France" petition, and called on all French to "sing the [[La Marseillaise|Marseillaise]]" in protest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEN/biographie/biographie_6059.asp|title=Biography – Charles Aznavour|publisher=Rfimusique.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416155211/http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6059.asp|archive-date=16 April 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> Chirac, a personal friend of Aznavour's,<ref>{{cite news |last=Liabot |first=Thomas |date=1 October 2018 |title=Charles Aznavour, l'homme des présidents |url=https://www.lejdd.fr/Culture/charles-aznavour-lhomme-des-presidents-3768698 |work=[[Le Journal du Dimanche]] |access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref> ended up winning in a landslide, carrying over 82% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news |last=Henley |first=Jon |date=6 May 2002 |title=Le Pen defeated but defiant |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/06/france.thefarright2 |work=The Guardian |language=French |access-date=1 October 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181020151337/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/06/france.thefarright2 |archive-date=20 October 2018}}</ref>

He frequently campaigned for international [[History of copyright law|copyright law reform]]. In November 2005, he met with [[José Manuel Barroso]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_views/view017.html|title=Charles Aznavour meets EC President José Manuel Barroso|date=1 September 2005|publisher=Ifpi.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615135028/http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_views/view017.html|archive-date=15 June 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> the then [[president of the European Commission]], on the issue of the review of term of protection for performers and producers in the EU, advocating an extension of the EU's term of protection from the current 50 years to the United States' law allowing 95 years, saying "[o]n term of protection, artists and record companies are of the same mind. Extension of term of protection would be good for European culture, positive for the European economy and would put an end the current discrimination with the U.S." He also notably butted heads with French politician [[Christine Boutin]] over her defense of a "global license" flat-fee authorization for sharing of copyrighted files over the internet, claiming that the license would eliminate creativity. In May 2009, the French [[Senate of France|Senate]] approved one of the strictest [[Copyright law of France|internet anti-piracy bills]] ever with a landslide 189–14 vote. Aznavour was a vocal proponent of the measure and considered it a rousing victory:

<blockquote>If the youth can't make a living through creative work, they will do something else and the artistic world will be dealt a blow&nbsp;... There will be no more songs, no more books, nothing at all. So we had to fight.<ref>{{cite news|title=French bill to combat Internet piracy clears final hurdle|url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/french-bill-to-combat-internet-piracy-clears-final-hurdle-20090513-b3bs.html|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=13 May 2009}}</ref>
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