‘’Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia, Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly, Distinguished Members of the Government, Security Council, MPs, Distinguished Representatives of the Judiciary, dear parents, relatives of our martyrs, dear attendees, let’s first honor the memory of all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives to the Motherland and its Independence with minute of silence.
Thank You.
But you are standing alive with your old and new wounds,
You are standing thoughtful, on the mysterious path of the new and old.
With a groan from the depths of your heart, you are speaking to the God
Pondering of a deeply hidden symbolism in your torments,
Pondering about the Word you will tell the world,
And you will become the country, where our spirits strive,
Motherland of hope,
Motherland of light.
These words of Hovhannes Tumanyan probably most accurately express the situation of our homeland, the Republic of Armenia, which is already 30 years old. What will we see if we look back at the 30-year history of our independent state? We will see successes and failures, we will see victories and defeats, we will see tears and joy, we will see inspiration and despair, we will see rapture and disappointment, we will see wars, both victorious and defeated.
The burden of the 44-day war in 2020 is hovering over this square, and perhaps this circumstance is the symbol of the crossroads that the great Tumanyan is talking about. How to live after this tragedy, how to look into the eyes of the children, widows, fathers and mothers of the victims, how to make their sacrifice not be considered meaningless.
This formula is perhaps our biggest task, to formulate the guideline of our life and future at this point of 30 years of independence for the coming decades of our independent state. My formulation is the following.
History has shown and proved that victory in wars has not always been victory in general, in the same way the defeat in wars has not always been defeat in general. We must transform our defeat into victory, but we must also transform our formula for victory, because history has shown that it is not always necessary to defeat others for a victory. To win means to overcome despair, to overcome hopelessness, to overcome the fate, to overcome death.
So where are our martyrs?
They fell so as Armenia can live, they fell so as Artsakh can live. And as long as Armenia lives, as long as ...
Read full story