Past years were years of allegiance
On the occasion of the 21st anniversary of RA independence RA President Serzh Sargsyan made a speech during a reception organized at sports complex after K. Demirchyan.
“The Republic of Armenia is twenty-one years old. In this period of time, we have passed through various crises and ordeals, and did so with dignity, never losing our human and political posture; never losing our bearings and never betraying our goals, the path we had once chosen, or our ideals. Despite the losses and mistakes, in the past years we have registered impressive achievements. Irreversible changes have taken place in Armenia – both in the state and in social areas, also in the people’s mentality and mindset,” stated S. Sargsyan. According to him, in this period of time, we have passed through various crises and ordeals, and did so with dignity, never losing our human and political posture; never losing our bearings and never betraying our goals, the path we had once chosen, or our ideals.
The millennia-long march of Armenians goes on in a new historic era. Yes, these are challenging times, but have they ever been any different for us? Hardly so. Nowadays, almost every country has its own challenges. Naturally, they differ from region to region, from country to country. We too are taking our share of testing. Experience gained through the years of independence is sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, but always valuable. That very experience tells us that there are solutions to the problems, and we are finding them. We already know where to look for these solutions, and that is already one half of the task,” stated Sargsyan and added that the peaceful settlement of the Artsakh problem continues to top the list of our foreign policy challenges. “As difficult as it is, we still shall explore avenues for continuing negotiations aimed at the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh issue.
If efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs have not yet yielded positive results, it’s neither their fault, nor, moreover, is it the result of that format’s deficiency, as our neighbors often try to present. This is the fault of those who regularly torpedo the process and the logic of peaceful negotiations. The most recent provocation was that same disgusting acquittal of the murderer and his glorification. We, as well as the international community, have explicitly and unequivocally expressed our position on that matter. I admit that under such circumstances, it is difficult to incline our people to reconciliation and thus even pave the way to peace, but I also know that that is the only right thing to do.
To prepare the people for peace does not mean to be unprepared for war and self-defense. It means not to poison people’s minds and souls with inhumane ideas and xenophobia, not to turn into zombies young people who have their lives to live and have a country to enrich. For me, appropriate moral and spiritual bearing of the children growing in Armenia is more precious than anything else.
Stealthy murder is for cowards, while our, parents’ mission is to raise free, well-educated and brave children. It does not matter how difficult the times are, we cannot betray ourselves,” he said. In a nutshell, the past years can be characterized as years of loyalty: loyalty to our people’s choice, to liberty and democracy, loyalty to our allies and partners, loyalty to our values and goals, to our ideas and principles. Thanks to it, we have accomplished a lot and will accomplish much more. We will do that because we have chosen to join the family of civilized nations and not the quagmire of xenophobia. We will do that because we have sufficient political will and have created necessary conditions by our work,” said Sargsyan.
