On occasion of Army Day solemn award-giving ceremony takes place at RA Presidential Palace

On the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the formation of the Armenian army, the President of the Republic of Armenia issued decrees awarding high state decorations to a group of servicemen for their high combat skills and outstanding achievements. The solemn award-giving ceremony took place today at the RA Presidential Palace. The RA President and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Serzh Sargsyan, congratulated the servicemen and the freedom fighters on the holiday and on receiving high state awards and in their presence, delivered his Army Day Congratulatory Address to our compatriots.

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Congratulatory remarks by President Serzh Sargsyan to the awardees

Dear awardees,

I congratulate you on receiving high state decorations and on the Armenian army day.

We are proud of you. We extend our thanks to you for your boundless devotion and patriotic service.

Unfortunately, today we are also handing over posthumous decorations. Glory to their memories! I think nobody doubts that we will make them pay for all our fallen boys.

On the Armenian army day, we again and again highlight the significance of the mission carried out by the armed forces, as well as its importance and hardships. However, we also emphasize the self-sacrifice and heroism of our servicemen.

Following the already established tradition, I deliver my Army Day Congratulatory Address in front of such merited people who are present today at this hall. Let me behave the same way today.

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Congratulatory address by President Serzh Sargsyan on Army Day

Dear compatriots,

I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of Army Day.

For our country and people, the army is more than just a public body. Literally every day and every night the Armenian army protects our lives, very often becoming engaged with bandits who seek to encroach upon our motherland. Today, they are trying to impose on us a new type of war, because they have lost all the previous types, including the so called “war of diversions.” Its absurdity is already obvious even to those who call us “enemy.”

In the 100th year of the Armenian Genocide, some people have decided to frighten us, Armenians, with homicide – Armenocide. Let us confess that what was implemented 100 years ago was centrally-planned and administrated genocide. We also fully understand that such a plan could have been fulfilled only in the absence of the Armenian statehood.

Today is a red-letter day, and I would like to reiterate once again for those who do not understand well: the Armenian people have returned to life, have returned to the international family of peoples through its statehood and army. They have returned from Hell. The attempts to terrorize the ones who have gone through hell are not serious. Such attempts are delayed by at least 100 years.

A question arises: what is the connection between the events that happened 100 years ago and today’s army. Is there a plan in someone’s sick brain to destroy Armenia? The answer is that those plans live not only in some peoples’ brains, but also are heard from the lips of the neighboring country’s officials. They can be heard through all possible loudspeakers. According to them, not only Artsakh, but also the entire territory of Armenia made part of the historical lands of “Azerbaijan,” and those lands are subject to so called “liberation.” We perfectly understand the targets of such “pre-planned” rhetoric.

What do we say? We say that Artsakh’s right to live in freedom is out of discussion. That is all.

Dear compatriots,

Since the day of its formation, when it even lacked an official name, our army has become tempered in war fires. It was born out of our people’s will to live and be liberated and as a guarantor of their hopes, desires and immortality.

We have not had such a powerful army for a long time. I congratulate all of us on this great holiday. I wish safe service to our servicemen and peace to all of us.