On the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Defense. First, a procession was held with the participation of the Armed Forces units, followed by a solemn session with the participation of the highest officers of the Armed Forces.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan delivered speeches. In his speech, the Prime Minister, in particular, noted:

“Dear Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia,
Dear Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Deputy Ministers,
Gentlemen generals and officers, ladies and gentlemen servicemen,
Dear guests,

I congratulate all of us on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the formation of the Army of the Republic of Armenia and I would like to first of all thank all the servicemen, both present and absent, for your service to the Republic of Armenia. I would like to thank all members of your families who encourage you to fulfill this difficult mission with honor and dedication. In my opinion, your family members serve together with you, regardless of whether they wear a military uniform or not, and their service deserves great appreciation as well.

Today we bow and kneel before all our martyrs. And we must always return to the question of what is the most direct and correct way to honor the memory of our martyrs. I have proposed the answer to this question several times and I am convinced of this answer: it is a developed, prosperous, safe, free and happy Republic of Armenia. There cannot be a more glorious monument to our martyrs, and we must also refer to our ways of honoring our martyrs and their memory.

I apologize for the slight deviation from the point, but yesterday we were present at the opening ceremony of a very important medical institution, which, in addition to the state budget, was also financed by a foundation that the Diaspora Armenian family created to honor their ancestors and perpetuate their memory. I am sure, of course, that they have also financed monuments to their ancestors during this time, which is a very important, essential ceremony for our tradition, but at some point they decided to honor and perpetuate their memory by making vital, life-sustaining, people-serving investments.

And I think that we should put more and more emphasis on appreciating the merits of not only our martyrs, but also our servicemen, because, ultimately, the goal of both the martyrs and the army is the Republic of Armenia - safe, developed, prosperous, happy. And in this regard, I want to look at the perception that we have had towards our army from the first days of the creation of our republic, and even more so later.

But I want to first apologize to our army, servicemen, our soldiers, now I will tell you why. All leaders want and need to be patriotic, all politicians want and need to be patriotic, all citizens want and need to be patriotic. But the problem is that we place all the responsibility for our patriotism on the soldier. We place the responsibility for everything and everything on the soldier. We hide the shortcomings of our state-building and say, "Well, the soldier will do his job." In order to fill our shortcomings in foreign policy, we say, "Well, the soldier, and therefore also the officer, the army must do his job." In order to fill our shortcomings in the economy, we say, "Well, it is done for the soldier, the soldier will do his job." And we often place unbearable burdens on the shoulders of the soldier and the army, and these burdens are formed by the desires of all of us to be patriotic everywhere and in any place.

But what am I proposing, am I proposing not to be patriotic? Of course, I am not proposing such a thing. I propose that our model of patriotism places responsibility not only on the army and the soldier, the mission of heroism not only on the army and the soldier, but on the contrary: all layers of our society and state, each to their own extent, should bear this responsibility, and our object of patriotism should be such, our content of patriotism should be such that it does not sacrifice the soldier, that it does not sacrifice the army.

This is the reason why I speak a lot and propose the slogan “The motherland is the State,” because this is the model that will allow us, first, to develop the state, and second, not to place unbearable burdens on our soldier and the army. And we must very clearly declare that we are adopting the model of patriotism that offers our army, our soldier a very specific task: to preserve and protect our internationally recognized borders, our territories. security. And this is the model on which we must build our new, renewed, updated defense-capable army. This is the foundation on which we must implement the concept of army transformation that has already been approved by the Security Council.

This is the basis on which we must clearly set the task that yes, servicemen in the Republic of Armenia must have sufficient, decent material security. This is the basis on which we can emphasize that military service is also work, which must ensure well-being for the families of servicemen. This is the path that will not give anyone the opportunity to question our legitimate right to have a defense-capable army.

And by the way, I want to tell you that it is precisely thanks to the adoption of this concept that we have managed to diversify our relations in the security sphere. Otherwise, we do not have that opportunity, and I think that those present know about it very well. Therefore, it is very important that the Republic of Armenia, politicians, the Government, the public, become more specific in their model of patriotism, because the model of patriotism that we adopt falls on the shoulders of the soldier, the military, the army. We must know what burden we are placing on the shoulders of our army, we need to understand whether that burden is bearable or unbearable.

Our military, to their credit, never grumble and I am sure they will never grumble, but we should not use this strong and dignified posture of theirs to place unbearable burdens on their shoulders. We should not place our responsibility for patriotism on their shoulders and make them a target.

Therefore, the Government, the society, the state should set before the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia only the task of protecting and securing internationally recognized territories. And on this basis, yes, we are implementing deep reforms of the army, and on this basis we will have a strong, capable army. In this case, no one will be able to question our right to have a capable army, no one can question our right to have a prosperous military, no one can question our right to have a strong state, a prosperous and developed state. And for having that state, I have said and I want to say again, the existence and state of awareness of the officer class is of key importance.

We must also record this, that yes, the army, the Armed Forces and the officer class in general are the pillar, the backbone around which the state is built. Yes, it is right to say that we should not hide the shortcomings, but we should not hide the shortcomings of not only the army, but the shortcomings of the Government, the shortcomings of the public, the shortcomings of the private sector.

It is also unfair that everyone notices the shortcomings of the army, but it is said “First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye''. This is our path: to see the shortcomings of the army, but to see the connection between the shortcomings of the army and the shortcomings of each of us, because the army does not come out of thin air, the army is formed in kindergartens, schools, neighborhoods, and work collectives. There is not a single problem in the army today, not a single flaw that was not born outside the army. Such a problem does not exist. All the problems of the army were born outside the army, another thing that all these problems can develop a little in the army, be transformed, but there is no problem that the army owns, that we can say the army created this problem. There is no such problem.

All the problems come to the army from society, from our families, our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools, our kindergartens, our parties, our weddings, from our ways of relating to each other, and this we must understand, and this we understand, because you should know that the Government understands this.

Today is the 33rd anniversary of our army, in the National Security Strategy, which, of course, will change and transform in the near future, but by our decision we have included the army in the first lines of our state, our national values. Yes, the army is a state value, for me the first is the Republic of Armenia, statehood, independence and that the backbone of statehood is the army, the armed forces, and the army and the armed forces are people first and foremost. And people should feel valued, people should feel respected, and people should feel dignified.

I want to thank you all again for your service. You should know that we are proud of you, we rely on you, and I am sure that together we will make the Republic of Armenia with its 29,743 square kilometers of territory a safe, developed, happy, protected state. And together we are on that path.

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

On the occasion of Army Day, Nikol Pashinyan awarded a group of servicemen of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia with the commemorative medal of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia for their contribution to the security and defense of the homeland.