ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DELIVERS SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF 140TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF HOVHANNES TUMANIAN

ARMENPRESS
Feb 20, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Within the framework of his visit
to the Armenian province of Lori February 19 President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of the All-Armenian poet Hovahannes
Tumanian’s 140th birth anniversary visited the birthplace of the poet,
Dsegh village. The President of Armenia laid flowers on the tomb of the
great poet and toured his home-museum. The president also delivered a
speech on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Tumanian. The
speech runs as follows: "Dear Compatriots, Today we celebrate the
140th birth anniversary of, as we all love to say, the All-Armenian
poet. Jubilees of our greats are not only an exceptional occasion
to remember them and pay tribute but also to reckon over their works
and accomplishments, to find a new meaning in their patriotic ideas
and legacy.

In this regard, Hovhannes Toumanian is an extraordinary phenomenon
in our literature as well as in our social and political life.

I strongly believe that each generation of Armenians must not only
read Toumanian and enjoy his literary genius but also learn from a man
whose life is an example of the unconditional dedication to his own
country and his own people, the example of sharing the pains of his
country and of his people, and the example of finding cure for that
pain. Such examples are contagious and every generation, particularly
those Armenians growing now in Armenia and in the Diaspora, do need
that kind of example.

Today is also Vardanants Day, and it is an interesting coincidence. I
congratulate all of us on this occasion. Vardan’s and his army’s
heroism and demeanor have also been encouraging our rising generations
as a vivid example of placing national identity and freedom higher
than life itself. Vardan and his army and their followers, Hovhannes
Toumanian and his followers are the moral, spiritual and may be also
political values of the modern as well as the future Armenia. The
higher standards simply do not exist.

Toumanian shows us vigorous patriotism on one hand and pronounced
respect toward other nations and their values on the other. On one
hand we observe courage, personal valor, composure which excludes
panic in the most extreme situations, and self-possession and love for
peace on the other. It is not a coincidence that on different issues –
literary, cultural, or political – whenever there was a need for an
envoy or a negotiator, the Poet was the choice. He was revered by
everyone and the main reason for that was his ability to conduct a
dialogue with great wisdom and insight, whether his interlocutor was a
Georgian intellectual, a Russian tsar’s official, a Moslem herdsman,
a Bolshevik revolutionist, a member of the Armenian Government,
or a simple Lori villager.

A look back into the depth of times reveals today that due to his
political open-mindedness, Toumanian was standing out among his
contemporaries. His confidence in our peoples’ inner abilities and in
Armenia’s future was boundless and unwavering. His shining optimism
was a source of vital strength for those who had weakened in their
faith, and those whose hope had diminished. In 1915, and I invite
your attention to that date, in 1915 at the most tragic time for the
Armenian people, he was referring to this country as The Land of Hope!

The Land of Light!

He stands in striking contrast with those who live and act today,
and who are hundred times smaller than Toumanian, the so-called
politicians who will lose no chance to damn their own young Republic,
their own state.

Along with his contemporaries, Toumanian had lived also through the
tragedy of the intellectual with no state, when at times he was forced
to single-handedly to carry out the work of government structures
and entire ministries. Certainly, it was not the most efficient way
of serving the needs of the nation but the destiny left no choice
for Toumanian and his contemporaries. The most efficient and the
highest mode of organizing people is the establishment of the state
and today it is the Armenian state that has taken over that mission
and the resolution of all existing problems.

Dear Compatriots, One year ago on this day, February 19, I was elected
President of Armenia. My presence here today is symbolic. I consider
it to be my duty to work and to make the entire state machine work
in a way so that we all together can bring the day when we will
call the Armenia of Hovhanness Toumanian’s dream and our dream My
New Motherland!

The Great Motherland!"