On the occasion of the Citizen's Day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave a speech themed "Motherland is the state, if you love your motherland, strengthen your state" in the youth capital of Armenia for the year of 2024, at the State Drama Theater named after Levon Kalantar.

Young people aged 14-35 years of Gegharkunik region, representatives of educational institutions participated in the event.

The main goal of the meeting was to establish civic values in the thinking of young people, to value the concepts of "independence", "sovereignty", "statehood", and to form responsible and caring behavior towards the state.

In his speech, the Prime Minister referred to the meaning of the Citizen's Day, the challenges and problems facing Armenia, the steps taken by the government to solve them, the process of delimitation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and other topics. In particular, the Prime Minister, speaking about the border delimitation process in the Tavush region, emphasized that the decisions to implement it were made in order to secure the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.

The Prime Minister noted that the posts placed on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan are the cornerstones of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.

"We make these decisions with the understanding that if one of the important preconditions of the state is the citizen, then the second is the territory and territorial integrity. What does territorial integrity mean? Territorial integrity means the internationally recognized territory of a given country. There territory may exist, but that territory may not be internationally recognized," the Prime Minister emphasized.

Nikol Pashinyan touched on the issue of emigration, adding that many people emigrated from Armenia precisely because of the lack of peace. "The peace agenda is about preventing emigration, because when we look at the socio-psychological layer, we see that war has a lot to do with emigration, because many people emigrated from Armenia precisely because of the lack of peace. The peace agenda is about that," said Nikol Pashinyan.

Nikol Pashinyan answered many questions of the attendees, which related to the establishment of the Academic City, encouraging creative work among young people and other topics.

Afterwards, the event continued in the central square of Gavar, where the 5 communities of Gegharkunik region, young entrepreneurs of Gavar community, individuals and organizations engaged in food production and tourism service providers were presented with booth exhibits. During the tour, the Prime Minister got acquainted with the handicrafts of students of educational and cultural institutions.

Within the framework of the event, master classes (cooking kufta and baklava), bicycle race, and sports events were organized.

The organizers of the event are the Staff of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the staff of the Governor of Gegharkunik and the municipality of Gavar.

Prime Minister Pashinyan, accompanied by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, also visited the Berdkunk or Spitak fortress located in the Berdkunk settlement of Gavar community, where archaeological excavations are being carried out.

Berdkunk Fortress is a multi-layered monument, dating back to BC. II-I millennium, was reconstructed and reached the peak of development in the Middle Ages. After the completion of the archaeological excavations, the restoration project of the fortress will be developed.