Congratulatory message from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia

 Dear Compatriots,

Proud Citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

30 years ago, the Supreme Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, which informed about the beginning of the process of establishing an independent statehood. This historic decision was based on the desire of the Armenian people to have an independent state and flowed from this will, which was confirmed a year later in a referendum on the independence of Armenia.

The previous 30 years have been full of trials, failures and victories. The most important of these victories was the glorious Artsakh war of liberation, which was the basis and impetus for the formation of the Armenian Army. The victorious battles in July 2020 proved that we have a combat-ready army capable of protecting the security of Armenia, and Armenia can honorably fulfill its function of the guarantor of the security of Artsakh.

The biggest setback of the last 30 years has been the low level of solvency of state and public institutions, if not their absence. Almost immediately after gaining independence, Armenia suffered from a lack of an independent judiciary, the rule of law and equality of all before the law.

For many years, corruption has been a key instrument of public administration, leaving Armenia without an effective public administration system. Corruption has penetrated everywhere: into the government system, the judiciary, schools, kindergartens, universities, academic and cultural circles, the media, the electoral system, and sometimes even into the sphere of spiritual relations. It was not a failure of individual groups or people, but of all of us, our collective failure, in which each of us had our own big or small role.

The most catastrophic consequence of all this was that the citizen was alienated from his state, his rights and obligations, the state order became alien to the citizen, because it was based not on his will, but on political coercion based on corruption and falsification of elections.

The 2018 Nonviolent Velvet People’s Revolution resolved exactly this contradiction. The citizen, who was alienated from his rights, again took into his own hands his own right to form state power. And this is a historic opportunity to build on the successes and fix the failures of our past 30 years.

Our main task remains the same: the formation of state and public institutions. The normal development of the army must continue, and we must strive to have one of the most efficient armies in the world.

Non-falsified electoral mechanism, an independent judiciary that serves the institutional goals of our state and people, an educational system that increases the competitiveness of the education system, stimulates high professionalism and efficiency, a public administration system, an innovative, creative and competitive economy, zealous in their obligations, as well as in their rights, a citizen, a businessman, civil servant – these are our most important tasks for the near future, and this can be achieved only in such conditions and in such an atmosphere when each of us realizes the impact of our individual behavior on reality, when the protection of minority rights does not become a compulsion against the majority, dooming the country to eternal rotation in place.

Work, education, continuous improvement of skills, knowledge should become the cornerstone of social protection and the well-being of every citizen, every citizen (except in cases of incapacity) must first of all be responsible for his own well-being, and the government and the state must create appropriate educational, legal and competitive conditions for the legal and effective fulfillment of this responsibility.

Dear people,

Proud citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

I congratulate all of us on the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia. We recently adopted a new National Security Strategy, in which we stated that today’s Armenia positions itself as the most important harbor in the millennial procession of the Armenian people, and our current behavior will predetermine the fate of the Armenian people in the coming millennium. The state order established in Armenia must become native to every citizen and must proceed from the conscious responsibility of every citizen.

We are the representatives of the generation that accepted the Declaration of Independence, and it is our historic duty and mission to make our declared dreams come true. And this imposes a special responsibility on each of us, because the Armenian state must exist forever, the Armenian people must exist forever.

And, therefore,

Long live Freedom!

Long live the Republic of Armenia!

Long live the Republic of Artsakh!

Long live we and our children, for we live and will live in a free and happy Armenia!