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HERITAGE STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY

[08:30 pm] 28 May, 2007

The Heritage Party congratulates the entire Armenian nation on the
89th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Armenia. Without
this day in 1918, achieved as it was against the odds of the Genocide
and great dispossession of Homeland which preceded it, there would be
no Armenian state, of any kind, remnant today.

In paying tribute to the founders and framers of the first, albeit
short-lived sovereign accomplishment in modern Armenian history, we,
the heirs of that legacy of triumphs and tribulations, recommit
ourselves to the aspiration of a Republic anchored in liberty, the
rule of law, and the protection of civil rights and national
interests. The recently-held parliamentary elections did not satisfy
the threshold of these Armenian benchmarks, and continue to pose a
challenge of public legitimacy and good governance to be met by the
democratic determination of our generation.

In the letter and spirit of this occasion, Heritage calls for the
immediate release of Alexander Arzoumanian, Zhirair Sefilian, Vardan
Malkhasian, Arman Babajanian, Armen Sargsian, Arsen Artsruni, and all
other political prisoners currently being held in violation of their
basic constitutional freedoms. There can be no justice in the world
without justice at home.

Happy May 28th.
The Heritage Party
Raffi K. Hovannisian, Chairman
May 28, 2007
Yerevan

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