Mesrop Arakelyan, the party’s co-founder, said in his speech at the ” Aprelu Yerkir-Land of Living” party congress. “When the party congress took place two years ago, it was evident those months after the 44-day war, the new challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh posed a severe threat to our homeland, and all the resources of the state and the Armenian people should be directed to confronting these challenges. But what did we have during these two years?
Anotherlost years, the value of which is becoming more and more critical, more irreversible. In two years, the authorities have yet to understand that establishing the peace agenda does not happen by signing an agreement. Many agreements have remained on the pages of the history textbook, and the last document regarding Artsakh has been violated for 132 days, and some of our compatriots are under total blockade despite the era of peace.
We have only one way to establish peace: a robust security system. Moreover, in the broad sense of the word security: military security, material security, information security, economic security, etc. And what do we have today? 2.5 years after the war, our borders remain vulnerable. And it is only through the dedicated struggle of our soldiers that the losses are limited to this. And what happened in the Tegh community is beyond logical when knowing about the border change eight months ago; engineering works were carried out two weeks after the border change. In other words, we had another casualty and territorial losses due to apparent inaction and carelessness.
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The dictatorial power of Azerbaijan will not stop, and the conciliatory rhetoric and activities are aimed at continuing to weaken Armenia and Artsakh, with no intention of establishing peace on the agenda. As a result, the ruling power is trying to force the self-deception agenda of peace on the public every day, adding to it the plan to abandon Artsakh and openly declaring that the government has nothing to do with the issue of Artsakh; it refuses not only the shed blood of thousands of victims, our historical achievements, but also the declaration of independence of the Republic of Armenia and even from the government’s program. As a result of irregular, inconsistent security and foreign policy, the situation of Artsakh is extremely endangered, and the borders of Armenia are highly vulnerable.
What shall we do? Currently, the Republic of Armenia has one challenge: to create a robust security system and direct all our resources from Armenia, Artsakh, and the Diaspora to it. It is necessary to significantly change the economy’s structure, instead of the predominance of construction, trade, and service sectors, combining military industry, science, and high technologies. I am confident that the Armenian nation’s resources can record success in the field of military industry in a brief period, which will be a fundamental prerequisite for the security of Armenia and Artsakh.
We need to correct the gaps in army building because the army is not only weapons and soldiers but correct and effective management. Of course, geopolitical and regional processes also affect the situation created around Armenia and Artsakh. And in this regard, practical politics is no less essential to face the challenges. Instead of constantly maneuvering in the external sphere and regularly blaming everyone, one should understand a simple truth. No one owes us anything; no one will keep us safe if we don’t do it ourselves. In the best case, we can have allies to help us cooperate. But never to work and fight for us. Today’s world, unfortunately, has violated many universal norms adopted by it, and double and triple standards are regularly applied, to which the weak fall victim and the strong become more robust. Therefore, there is no alternative to our firm foreign policy.
And this fact does not need to be proven, but let’s remember how the international community reacted to the blockade of Artsakh in the first weeks of the struggle. And what kind of oblivion is now, it is also a consequence of the lack of battle,” said Mr. Arakelyan and noted that it is necessary to give great importance to our natural allies Iran, Arab countries, India, and China in our foreign policy. The party is sure that Armenia can take advantage of new opportunities in the new multipolar world if it has professional leadership. “As a state and people, we need to fix the vision of building a powerful state as a collective dream and goal. We have to stop crying and despairing.
We can and will have a powerful state where living will be happy. As a party, we are committed to leading the Armenian people and the Republic of Armenia in building that goal and dream. As a party, we are committed to fighting for the sake of Artsakh, the right of the people of Artsakh to live freely and independently.”
Ashot HAKOBYAN
