ArmInfo.The 4th President of Armenia Armen Sargsyan, at a special meeting of the National Assembly, swore on the Bible "Vehamor Avetaran" (Gospel of the Mother of God) of the 7th century.
Putting his hand on the Bible, Sargsyan said, in particular: "In assuming the office of the President of the Republic of Armenia, I swear: to be faithful to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, performing my duties, I promise to be impartial, guided solely by state and national interests and invested all my efforts in promoting national unity. "
After that, the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II delivered a speech, congratulating Sarkisian, listed all his services to the fatherland in different positions.
In his speech, the newly elected president, in particular, promised to justify the expectations of all social strata assigned to him. "In this business, faith will give me strength - faith in the people, faith in the future," Sargsyan said. He thanked all three Presidents of Armenia - Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan for their contribution to the establishment of the third Armenian Republic against the backdrop of difficulties after the collapse of the USSR and the Karabakh war.
However, the newly elected president especially stressed "the wisdom and political farsightedness of President Serzh Sargsyan, because, thanks to his far-sighted policy, Armenia became a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and signed the Agreement on Comprehensive and In-depth Partnership with the European Union," which, according to the 4th President, opens new prospects for the republic. The main achievement for the years of independence, he considered the formation of a strong Armenian army and victory in the Karabakh war.
Sarkisian stressed that the Armenians, as a peace-loving people, stand for the peaceful settlement of all conflicts and for the prevention of crimes against humanity.
Touching upon the Karabakh problem, he stressed that the key to the development of Armenia and a stable and strong Artsakh is the guarantee of its fair and peaceful settlement. "To achieve these goals, we must jointly fight against all negative phenomena - corruption, bribery, protectionism," the new head of state said, putting forward several concepts of Armenia's further strategy: "A small country is a world nation", "Faith, confidence and daily work "," Unified agenda and consolidated actions ". "In this way, we will be able to achieve economic development and the return of our compatriots to our homeland." We must work to consolidate and eliminate all dividing lines, "the fourth president summed up. It should be noted that the inauguration ceremony was held at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex. The ceremony was attended by representatives of all parliamentary forces, except for the faction of the opposition bloc "Elk". It is noteworthy that the leader of the Heritage party Raffi Hovhannisyan also took part in the ceremony, while the members of the party are currently participating in opposition protests. The first and second Presidents of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Robert Kocharian did not participate in the ceremony. But the ceremony was attended by President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan. In general, the ceremony was attended by 1,300 people, diplomats, guests from abroad. However, the heads of foreign states and official foreign delegations were not present at the ceremony.