Today, on September 21, Armenians across the globe mark the 34th anniversary of our nation’s independence. This day belongs to those who carried the dream of sovereignty across centuries, those who defended it on the battlefield, and those who nurture it daily through their work and sacrifice. It is a day to honor resilience and continuity, to celebrate a free Armenia no matter how battered, and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that independence endures.
Yet on the eve of this anniversary, Nikol Pashinyan chose to inject a jarring note of opportunism into the national conversation. At his party’s convention yesterday, where he was once again reelected as party leader, Pashinyan announced his ambition to establish a “Fourth Republic” for Armenia. Such acts are undertaken after catastrophic failures and upheavals, when nations truly seek to reset their political order. But for a person who has already ruled for seven years—and whose tenure is synonymous with catastrophe and upheaval—the very notion that he could initiate a new republic is an affront to history and to the Armenian people.
Pashinyan is the last person on this planet who can credibly lead such a transformation. The talk of a “Fourth Republic” is a cynical attempt to legitimize failure in the guise of rebirth. If Armenia ever needs a constitutional adjustment, it is not to formalize Pashinyan’s rule but to ensure that his disastrous tenure is erased from the nation’s trajectory. What Armenia needs is a genuine process of renewal that restores faith in democratic governance, secures the nation’s sovereignty, restores its legitimate rights, and heals the wounds of a battered people.
Therefore, on this Independence Day we must not allow Pashinyan’s empty declarations of a “new republic” to divert us from our agenda. Let us congratulate ourselves on these 34 years of survival and reaffirm our conviction not to allow our independence to be squandered by any force.
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