Dear compatriots,
Proud citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Thirty years ago, the Supreme Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, which heralded the beginning of the process of developing our independent statehood. The above historic decision stemmed from the will of the Armenian people to have an independent state, which was reaffirmed in the referendum on Armenia’s independence a year later.

The past 30 years were full of trials, failures and victories. Our victories were crowned by the glorious liberation war waged in Artsakh, which laid the foundation of and provided a strong stimulus for the formation of the Armenian army. The victorious battles in July 2020 proved that we have an efficient army, capable of defending Armenia’s security. We made sure that Armenia could guarantee the security of Artsakh with honor and dignity.

The biggest setback in the past 30 years was the poor performance, if not the lack of state and public institutions in our country. Ever since the reinstatement of its sovereignty, Armenia has been suffering from lack of independent judiciary, rule of law and everyone’s equality before the law. Corruption used to be the most powerful leverage in the system of public administration, and as a result, Armenia failed to build an effective public administration system. We faced widespread corruption as it had infected the public administration system, the judiciary, schools, kindergartens, universities, academic and cultural institutions, mass media outlets and the electoral system. Sometimes it even encroached on the sphere of spiritual relations. This was a collective failure, and we are all responsible for it to some extent.

The most devastating consequence is that the citizen was alienated from the state with a tremendous gap formed between their rights and liabilities. Citizens were distanced from the state order became the latter was underpinned by political coercion hinged on corruption and electoral fraud, not on the people’s free will.

The non-violent, velvet, people’s revolution of 2018 solved this problem. Armenia’s citizens regained their right to form a government. This is a historic opportunity for us to build on the past 30 years’ achievements and address the failures.

Our primary objective remains the same, namely to complete the formation of state and public institutions. We must ensure the normal development of our armed forces, and we should set the goal of having one of the most efficient armies in the world.

Our primary task is to develop such effective electoral mechanisms that would rule out electoral fraud, build an independent judiciary, a fair and competitive education system serving the institutional goals set by the state and the people, a highly professional and efficacious public administration system, an innovative, creative and competitive economy, prepare law-abiding citizens, businessmen and public officials. This ultimate goal cannot be achieved unless we provide appropriate conditions and foster an atmosphere where each of us realizes the impact of our individual behavior, where the protection of minority rights is not seen as a burden for the majority.

Labor, education, mastering of new skills and knowledge should promote social security and universal welfare. All citizens (except for the disabled) should have a sense of responsibility for their personal wellbeing, while the government and the state must create conditions conducive to the fulfillment of people’s right to education, legal protection and competitive employment.

Dear people,
Proud citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

I congratulate all of us on the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We recently adopted the new National Security Strategy, in which we stated that today Armenia is positioning itself as a major milestone in our people’s millennia-long history. The behavior of each of us will determine the status of the Armenian people in the next millennium. Each Armenian citizen should accept the state order established in Armenia, which must derive from their deliberate sense of responsibility.

We represent the generation that adopted the Declaration of Independence, and it is our historical duty and mission to translate the proclaimed national wishes into reality. We all have a special responsibility to ensure the eternity of the Armenian state as the Armenian people must exist forever.

And so,
Long live freedom!
Long live the Republic of Armenia!
Long live the Republic of Artsakh!
Long live our children and we who live and will continue to live in a free and happy Armenia!