Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Today we celebrate the 34th anniversary of the formation of the Army of the Republic of Armenia.

Our army has gone through a difficult period of formation, faced challenges and difficulties, but today we can state that we have an army that is transforming and whose defense capability is increasing every day.

In recent years, we have made huge investments and reforms in our army.

The first is the voluntary certification program, which made it possible to double the salaries of servicemen, depending on the professional skills of the serviceman. Today, tens of thousands of servicemen of our army receive 30, 50, 100 and even more percent higher salaries due to voluntary certification compared to the period preceding the voluntary certification.

There are many ordinary servicemen in our army who receive a salary of 700 thousand drams. Officer salaries can exceed 1, 1.5, 2 million drams. This is an important social guarantee for servicemen, their family members, and the public, which can have confidence in the professional level of our servicemen and the existence of a motivational system to continuously raise it.

In recent years, a huge amount of modern weapons and military equipment has been acquired, of such quality and parameters that our army has never had. Large financial resources have been spent on this, because the acquired equipment is expensive and of high quality. But an answer must also be given to a very important question: why was the same not done in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022?

Almost all of our international partners with the potential to sell weapons and equipment politely refused to sell weapons to the Republic of Armenia, for two main reasons:

1. They were not sure that these weapons would not be deployed outside the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia.

2. They were not sure that the secret parameters of these weapons would not become available to the CSTO, to which the Republic of Armenia’s membership was also an obstacle to concluding such deals.

And as of September 2022, the CSTO partners were refusing to fulfill their contractual obligations towards us to guarantee the security and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia. They were also refusing to supply hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons and equipment, for which the Republic of Armenia had already made payments.

This was an existential threat to the Republic of Armenia, and it was obvious that a decision had been made to eliminate our statehood and nullify our sovereignty.

This disastrous danger was overcome as a result of two decisive events: the political agreement reached in Prague on October 6, 2022 in a quadrilateral format, according to which the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, and the freezing of Armenia's membership in the CSTO.

We will consistently continue this strategy. We have clearly stated and continue to state that the Armenian army has no other task than the defense of its internationally recognized territory of 29,743 square kilometers and will not have any other task, except for participation in peacekeeping missions based on international treaties.

As for the occupied territories of the Republic of Armenia, the solution of that issue, which is recorded in the regulation of the joint activities of the Armenian and Azerbaijani delimitation commissions, already has the highest legal force in both countries and the issue will be resolved in the delimitation process.

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

I am pleased to state that I can list for a long time the reforms that have taken place in our army in recent years.

The “Defender of the Fatherland” program deserves special mention, in which thousands of conscripts have been given the opportunity to become contractual soldiers, receive high salaries for voluntary certification, and live in their own homes during their service.

Today, we have many 19-year-old servicemen who receive a monthly salary of 500, 600 thousand drams. I am sure that many of them will decide to continue their contractual military service in the future, including receiving officer education and serving as officers.

The term of compulsory military service has been reduced from 24 months to 18 months. This significantly improves the conditions of compulsory military service.

Large-scale fortification works are being carried out along our borders, which bring a new voice to our defense system.

The area my message refers to does not allow for further elaboration, but what has been implemented in the army in recent years is a cornerstone for the sustainability, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of our borders.

But I also want to emphasize that we are not preparing for war, because there will be no war. Peace has been established between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and there is no more reliable guarantee of security than peace.

We will strengthen this most reliable guarantee of security.

And the development of the army will continue, because the army is one of the most important institutions of the state, and it is extremely important to have a strong, defense capable army to withstand the conditional threats of the future, in cases where diplomacy will not be able to do so.

A country without a strong army is vulnerable and can be a temptation for aggression. The Republic of Armenia should never be like this.

Glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia.