“The current president, instead of baiting our people by convening a council, had to bat his hand upon the table and say “this is it! From now on, no more robbery”.

Yesterday the Armenian National Congress, based on its recent years’ activity, celebrated the Independence Day near Saryan statue. The event was moderated by the chair of ANM, NA MP Aram Manukyan, who on August 23, 1990 read the declaration of independence.

“The greatest holiday of humanity is independence. It is signified because it is the achievement of the whole nation and there is no other holiday for which the nation would unanimously fight and will take so many sacrifices,” he stated and added that we don’t rejoice it to a sufficient extent because we take this holiday for granted. “The independence of Armenia is a struggling citizen. Anyone, who stops is a traitor. They are all hopeful for better achievements. Praise the ones, who fight for independence even now,” said Manukyan.

“ANC is determined to struggle against the acting authorities until it crowns the struggle with victory,” ANC member Gagik Jhangiryan stated. He added that the opposition alliance is going to name its candidate for the presidential race and Armenia’s first President and ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan is likely to be that candidate. Speeches were made by Nicol Pashinyan, Levon Zurabyan and Hrant Bagratyan. “During the whole independence period of Armenia and in the future as well Armenia was led by people, who had never appeared under the political elite. “It is time to fill independence with content. Five years ago, Levon Ter-Petrosyan believed he had finished his work, built up independence, gained victory in Karabakh war and could do gardening and research. But he felt the values he had struggled for were destroyed.

That is the reason why this day, five years ago, he said it was time to start working,” said Zurabyan. Yesterday’s gathering, as usual, was wrapped by the speech of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, during which to the surprise of many, he didn’t speak about the upcoming presidential elections or his decision to run for president. In particular, he said, “We have gathered to celebrate the Independence Day.

I don’t like official holidays, when those are organized by authorities, and words and palavers are said. There are people here, who are not brought by force. We have independence, in honor of you, our generation. We’ve build that independence. Today many people are not satisfied with the condition of our state. My friends told bitter truths, but I want to say, that turning our state into a normal and decent one is not an insoluble issue. Political science is the simplest science, which sees the problems facing the country and sees solutions to them.

Today I see five issues that keep us from becoming strong and decent state- Armenian-Turkish relations, the Karabakh conflict, the removal of blockades, the eradication of corruption and the establishment of legality. Nothing else is needed, other is no other riddle. Solve these issues and you’ll see the state Armenia becomes. I divide the problems into two parts: the first three, unfortunately, do not depend only on us, we should not unilaterally blame our authorities: if they did the best, it does not mean that these problems could be solved, because it also depends on external forces. The other two- not robbing, removing corruption, the ensuring of legitimacy and democracy, these two depend on our authorities. Political will is needed to resolve these issues.

The current president, instead of baiting our people by convening a council, had to bat his hand upon the table and say “this is it! From now on, no more robbery”. “He should’ve said so, but no “don’t rob”. And had to say “Legitimacy from now on, the one attempts to break the law will be punished.” I do not want to say bitter words as today is not the day for that. Remember, there are lasting values, despite all the bitterness and exasperation. The main value is the restoration of Armenia’s independence and the state, on the occasion of which I heartily congratulate you.”