Congratulatory Address by the Third President of RA Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of the Republic Day
Dear Compatriots,
I congratulate you on the occasion of the Republic Day.
Over a century ago, May 28 became not only the day for the restoration of our statehood but also a day when our values were challenged. National awareness, the determination to live free and with dignity did not allow conformism, fear, indecision, divide and all those vices, which hopelessness and defeat sow in the nation, to raise their heads.
First and foremost, May 28 was the victory of the spirit which proved one simple truth: Power is not measured by the number of the troops and ammunition. To live in a fear under the foreign yoke is worse than death, to denounce one’s nation and Fatherland is a fawning, but to live in one’s own Fatherland free and with dignity is a vital necessity. This is the truest and the deepest meaning of the victories at Sardarpat, Bash-Aparan and Gharaqilisa.
Eternal glory to those who had restored the independence of the Armenian statehood – from soldiers to builders, from intellectuals to the clergy.
Honor and Glory to all national and state figures who had devotedly created the First Republic!
Dear Compatriots,
Today too, we are facing a grim historic milestone: The despondent authorities, which associate with the defeat in the war and a mishandled state governance, are cynically staging a military parade at the Republic Square, lavishing huge state resources at the time when the consequences of the war, the issues of the thousands of victims, territorial losses, the occupation of some border areas of RA, thousands of deportees from Artsakh, the prisoners, who to this day are suffering in the jails in Baku, the issues of the missing persons and vulnerable state borders remain unresolved. Ahead of the upcoming elections, this is an immoral political trick to cover up the devastating consequences of the war, the current despairing state of the army, an attempt to send into oblivion the responsibility for all that and using the state resources to produce the images of self-promotion. Against this background, it would be pointless to speak about the content of that show. The Army is not a pre-election ad décor, but rather the birth of our nation, our pride, the priceless child which today is, unfortunately, an abandoned child.
The upcoming elections are also an opportunity to change that situation. And I once again appeal to our citizens to rally around one goal – on June 7 to say no to defeat, to despair, and to the force, which has become a symbol of depreciating our national values, and its satellites, and to give a start to the restoration of our Army, to the strengthening of the positions of our statehood and the Armenian national Church.
Only that way our people will prove that our state deserves a parade of a victorious army.