Updates
Congratulatory telegrams
28
05, 2010
President Serzh Sargsyan’s congratulatory address on the occasion of the Republic Day
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!
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!