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French President Emmanuel Macron has approved the pantheonisation of Missak Manouchian, an Armenian poet and communist fighter in World War II, French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Thursday.

“France and Armenia share a common history and ancient ties,” he tweeted after his meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

“At a time when the French President has decided to transfer Missak Manouchian to the Panthéon, it's an honor to receive Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan to keep the friendship and the defense relationship alive,” Lecornu said, sharing a photo with Papikyan.

Manouchian, who arrived in France in 1925 as a stateless refugee after fleeing violence, later joined the communist Resistance during World War II, AFP reported.

He led a small group of foreign Resistance fighters against the Nazi occupation, carrying out attacks on German forces and acts of sabotage in Nazi-occupied France in 1943. Macron said Manouchian "embodies the universal values" of France and "carries a part of our greatness."

In 1944, the group, which included a number of Jews, was put out of action when 23 of its members were rounded up and sentenced to death by a German military court. Manouchian was shot by the Nazis on February 21, 1944. The collaborationist Vichy regime later tried to discredit the group and defuse the anger over the executions in an infamous red poster depicting the dead fighters as terrorists.