PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN’S CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF THE REPUBLIC DAY

President.am
May 31 2010
Armenia

Dear Compatriots:

I congratulate us all on the occasion of the Republic Day.

Ninety-two years ago, after a long interval the Armenian people
reinstalled independence on a small piece of our historical land. What
was the Armenian before May 28, 1918? He was a victim, a refugee,
a capitalists, a merchant, a writer, a soldier, a poet, a worker, a
scientist, etc. He was anything but from the political point of view –
almost nothing. On May 28, the Armenian became a citizen of the state.

Such a revolution in mind naturally cannot happen overnight. It is
illustrated by the fact that even now there are some individuals who
lack the sense of being citizens of the state, who do not comprehend
the power and responsibility of being citizens.

I am confident that the heroic deed of May 28 first of all happened
in our minds and in our hearts. It had been maturing during hundreds
of years in the course of unequal struggle and bitter experience.

Ultimately, it was crowned with victories in May of 1918 which came to
prove the willpower of the people, who had gone through and survived
unthinkable sufferings. They were determined to live free, to live
with dignity. To live, not just to sustain but to live and advance,
to live keeping pace with the world progress.

This was another birthday, or rather it was a political rebirth that,
to be honest, not everyone in our society was ready for. Some perceived
the May 28 as isolation. However, the most important lessons of May
28 emerged at that very time.

Lesson number one: No one in the world must fight for you or instead
of you. Protection of your family, your nation, your country is your
personal business and your sacred duty. To rely on foreign forces
and to pin all hopes on others means to be unrealistic and eventually
leads to destruction.

Lesson number two: No one has to establish your statehood for you. Of
course in both cases there can be allies, however you must accomplish
that great deed yourself and must be ready to do it all by yourself.

Lesson number three: A nation, which has developed state structures,
can suffer isolated defeats but that nation cannot be subjected
to genocide. For all these reasons, May 28 is a new birthday for
Eastern Armenia.

Lesson number four: The Armenian nation is capable of solving any,
the most challenging, complicated and seemingly impossible or fantastic
issue. The Armenian nation is unconquerable when it stands united.

When all the segments of the nation, its groups and political forces
act unanimously, complement each other, when there is no “fifth column”
in the country, we are invincible.

Lesson number five: We must believe in the aptitude of the Armenian
nation, trust in our capacities to fight, to build, to think, and to
create. Today, few would remember how desperate people were just days
before the heroic battle of Gharaqilisa. Despondent reminiscences
of expatriation disheartened and demoralized even the soldiers, who
were contemplating desertion. But after the victory, many couldn’t
believe their eyes, couldn’t believe that they had won.

Today too, there are individuals among us, who do not believe that
Armenia can be prosperous as any developed European state, can maintain
the rule of law, can have a high-class education, advanced science and
health care, sport, etc. The May 28 event reminds us that pessimism
leads nowhere, that inferiority complex, mentality of the victim, who’s
at odds with the entire world, moaner’s mourning and bereavement will
not take us far. We will also not go far without political vision,
without civic demand and readiness, as we will not go far without
trust in our country.

We are getting ready to go very far, because we had May 28 and because
we are coming from afar.

I once again congratulate all of us on this great holiday. The martyrs
of the heroic battles of those days had fortified the foundation
of our country with their blood – the country that was called the
Republic of Armenia and which – literally and figuratively – has given
us passports. I wish us all peace, success and good fortune to carry
these passports for centuries with pride and dignity.

Long live the Republic of Armenia! Long live the Armenian nation!

From: A. Papazian