PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN ADDRESSES ARMENIANS ON THE OCCASION OF THE
17TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan addressed the Armenian people on the occasion of the 17th
anniversary of the Armenia’s Independence. Presidential press service
told Armenpress that in his address the president said;
`Dear Compatriots, I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the
17th Anniversary of our independence. Today is conceivably our main
state holiday. Seventeen years ago our collective will turned the
dream of the generations of our nation into the irreversible reality.
Restoration of the Armenian statehood was a historic
imperative. Our people had never come to terms with losing
independence. We couldn’t come to terms because our historians and
writers said centuries ago that captivity and rule of invaders were
unlawful.
Seventeen years ago, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, who
gave their votes for independence, created the history of contemporary
and future Armenia. Not incidentally on this festive day each of us
poses same questions:
¢What the independence has been for me?
¢What have been Armenia’s achievements on this road?
¢What should be our country’s course of development?
¢What state traditions we will leave to our children born in
freedom?
I ask myself the same question. Independence is the materialization
of our dream, it is our biography, with ups and downs, strives and
fights, opportunity and possibility to defend our national dignity,
sacrifice, national achievements obtained through that sacrifice, and
the right for all of us to share the pride of these
achievements. Independence is the right to shape our history by our
will, and that independence is indispensable and indisputable. In
seventeen years we have been able to protect our country, to establish
state structure, to lay foundations for growing economy, and to give a
new breath to our culture, education, and health care.
Today our country is moving forward, and if there is a progress it
means that there is a force behind that progress. That force is our
compatriots, their work, devotion and sacrifice. That force belongs to
each of us. All this makes September 21 a proud national holiday. This
pride is not haughtiness at all. Our pride is not inspired by our
glorious history only, or by the achievements and victories of our
predecessors, it is also inspired by our state traditions which are
being formed today.
Since independence we have been creating new traditions of the
Armenian statehood. Along with excellent traditions there are
unfortunately some which are unacceptable. Henceforth, we are a mature
state and must be able to uproot negative trends which hamper our
progress, simultaneously fostering the good, values for which the
generations have fought, values we cherish: freedom, democracy, and
equally before the law. We will stand by those values.
Dear Compatriots,
>From year to year for us freedom and independence acquire new meaning
and substance. We were able to overcome difficulties and didn’t
tumble. It became clear for us that only independence can give us the
ability to protect the interests of Armenia and the Armenian
people. We will continue to protect those values by all possible
means.
Once again I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the
Independence Day and wish you all the best.
Long live the free and independent Republic of Armenia!’