ARF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PAYS TRIBUTE TO MEMORY OF ARAM MANUKIAN
Yerkir
29.01.2008 15:11
Yerevan (Yerkir) – ARF Bureau member and presidential candidate Vahan
Hovhannesian, accompanied with his election campaign chief Armen
Rustamian and young members of the party, visited on January 29 the
grave of Aram Manukian, one of the founders of the First Armenian
Republic. January 29 marks the anniversary Manukian’s death.
They also paid visits to the graves of prominent ARF members Hrair
Marukhian and Eduard Hovhannesian, the father of Vahan Hovhannesian.
At Manukian’s grave, Vahan Hovhannesian briefly spoke about Manukian’s
biography, who died in 1919 of typhus.
"Being a leader of the country, Manukian personally visited the refugee
camps where he got contaminated by typhus and died on January 29,
1919. I think no other statesman has ever shown such an example of
being with the people in hardship. I would like Manukian’s example
to inspire everybody. He was the founder of our independent country,"
Hovhannesian said.
Hovhannesian added that there are values that never become museum
exhibits.
The national liberation struggle and independent homelands are such
values, he said.
"Our national heroes, most of whom were ARF members, do not belong to
our party any more; they are national heroes and national values. Dro,
Njdeh and Aram Manukian and many others were all ARF members, but they
all belong to our nation today. We should never forget that we gained
independence and won the Artsakh war because our heroes restored the
Armenian statehood in 1918," Hovhannesian said.