Second President Robert Kocharyan on Friday issued a congratulatory message on the 30th anniversary of the Armenian Armed Forces. The message states as follows:
"Dear compatriots,
Congratulations on the occasion of Armenian Army Day. We mark this day in the direst conditions for the army. It is not difficult to understand the feelings of the people who have had a contribution to the fate of our army created during the first Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [in the early 1990s] and developed step by step.
The [Armenian] army—the once guarantor of peace in the region, the guarantor of Artsakh's security—itself needs protection today. I am full of hope that the army will ultimately straighten its back again and become the complete guarantor of our people's security."