Wednesday, May 29 2024 12:39

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, together with President Vahagn Khachaturyan, President of  the National Assembly Alen Simonyan and the top leadership of the Republic of Armenia, visited the Sardarapat heroic battle memorial on the occasion of the Republic Day.

The Prime Minister made a speech at the memorial complex, in which he  specifically stated:

"Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,

Honorable President of the National Assembly,

Dear representatives of the legislature, executive, judiciary,

Gentlemen Generals and officers, servicemen,

Dear attendees,

Dear people,

I congratulate everyone on the occasion of May 28, the Republic Day.

This is a holiday that symbolizes the fulfillment of our people's  400-year dream of statehood. This is a holiday that symbolizes the de  jure right of the Armenian people, the popular masses, to decide  their own destiny, the fact of being the highest authority in their  own country, which was given to them for the first time in our  thousand-year history.

On May 28, 1918, we for the first time had a state called the  Republic of Armenia. However, that state, no matter how much dreamed  of, did not have a long life, just two years. And one of the reasons  for that was, perhaps, that when we say the dream of the Armenian  people, we often mean the dreams of groups that consider themselves  elite, when we say the power of the people, we often mean the power  of groups that consider themselves elite. And sometimes, even often,  the people are assigned the role of a governed and dictated mass, the  role of obedient subjects.

But the Republic is about the people, the Republic is the state that  is created from below, through the individual becoming a citizen, the  peasant, the worker, becoming a government equal to all. And the  Republic should be built in line with the dreams and ideas of the  people, the individual, the citizen, and not the groups considering  themselves elite, isolated groups, so that it does not turn out that  the people are in Armenia, dreaming of living in another place, in  another country, something that happened with our Republics.

Accordingly, our task is to make our Republic conform to the dreams  of our people, not to the toasts, not to the fabricated text dictated  by isolated groups who consider themselves elite, but to conform to  the needs and goals of citizens, real individuals, real people.

What does a person want, what does a citizen want? A person wants to  live and not suffer, a person wants to enjoy life and not beg, a  person wants to love and be loved, a person wants to be free,  prosperous, cheerful and happy, a person wants to live in a peaceful,  fair and dignified environment. And this goal should be served by the  state, the Republic of Armenia, which is the state of the person and  should serve the person. But this is a goal that is not easily given.  It goes through thorns and pitfalls, hard and difficult decisions,  disappointments and misunderstandings. But it is a straight road, and  we are passing that road and we will reach our Promised Land, our  Promised Republic.

Long live the people of Armenia

Long live the citizen of the Republic of Armenia,

Long live the power of the people!

Glory to the martyrs who fell not for death but for life. And the  people's state, the Republic of Armenia, will live free, fair,  prosperous, peaceful and happy.

Long live the Republic of Armenia."

Next, the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia was performed  and a festive march took place.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan laid a wreath at the memorial complex  commemorating the heroes of the Sardarapat battle and paid tribute to  their memory.