President of Armenia Serj Sarksian participated in the solemn ceremony and parade on May 28 dedicated to the Day of the Republic that took place at Sardarapat memorial complex. The President was accompanied by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and top officials of the country. President Sargsyan delivered a speech, stating that this holiday is first of all a salvation holiday for us.
“We saved our last piece of land and the last fragments of our people that remained on that land. Though it is hard to acknowledge, it was the reality. The desperate and bleeding Armenian people was able to withstand the enemy using its final and supernatural efforts, winning and rebuking the enemy. Many consider the heroic battles of May and their victorious results as a miracle. We won, we survived and liberated ourselves”, “Armenpress” reports the President saying at the memorial complex. He added that the independence and statehood of Armenia are not gifts from someone. “The Armenian people have paid for them so much that no one else has done so”, he said.
Referring to the military operations launched by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh in April of this year, the President mentioned that they made a number of realities, both positive and negative, more visible.
“Among them the most important for me is our new generation, the generation of independence that showed both us and everyone that they are the real owners of their country and are responsible for it. Those who stand behind “May 28” could only dream about such a regular army and generation. But we saw that. There will be no new Sardarapat since by and large it was a war of desperation. Those who fought there did not know what country’s citizens they were of, and if they were citizens at all. There will be no new Sardarapat since there stands a State. There is a generation born with independence, which wants to move in step with the contemporary world – and it will; a generation, which wants to move its country forward – and it will; a generation born with independence, which grasped the bequest of May 28 better than anyone else. All this stems from the fact that in their families and in their schools the bequest of May 28 was also grasped properly. We as a State, as a nation and as a society grasped the bequest of May 28 well.
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On May 28 our nation stepped back from the verge of the abyss. We stepped back and moved towards the rebirth, towards creation, and toiling. We got back.
Glory to the Republic Day!
Long live the Armenian nation!”, the President said.