Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Mrs. Anna Hakobyan attended a solemn event dedicated to the 2801th anniversary of Yerevan at the Alexander Spendiaryan National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.

Prior to that, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Hakobyan had a brief meeting with Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the St. Petersburg Hermitage, who has arrived in Armenia to take part in the anniversary events in Yerevan.

Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan presented the activities and upcoming programs implemented in different spheres of the capital during the last year.

RA People’s Artist Yervand Manaryan and Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky were awarded the title of Honorary Citizens of Yerevan.

Addressing the event, Prime Minister Pashinyan said:
“Dear Mr. Mayor,
Honorable National Assembly Speaker,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Your Holiness Karekin II,
Dear Members of Government,
Honorable National Assembly Members,
Distinguished members of the Council of Elders of Yerevan,
Government officials,
Dear guests,

This is a truly wonderful holiday for all of us, and it is a holiday that has accompanied us for many years. The Erebuni-Yerevan celebration, the anniversary of Yerevan is one of the most beloved holidays of our people and I would not be mistaken to say that Yerevan is our most beloved city. This has a very specific reason, because every stone of every building in Yerevan includes, and contains, a piece of our national dreams.

Modern Yerevan, the Yerevan we have today, began to be built at a time when our people seemed to be on the verge of destruction just years before, and with every stone the back of our people was straightened, the spine straightened, the legs strengthened and with every building our people were restoring their ability to dream. With every building our people found a new way of thinking and defining themselves.

I am convinced that Yerevan with its architecture and its urban development has predetermined the new thinking of our people, the thinking of the future, which has been able to transform the people on the verge of destruction to new times, to prepare for victories, economic victories, political victories, military victories.

To this day I cannot but mention the true author of modern Yerevan, one of our greats, Alexander Tamanyan. And I think that today's Yerevan, our love for Yerevan, is also a real tribute to Tamanyan and all those who predetermined to create the image of a new Yerevan.

Yerevan also had a function of gathering Armenians, and see today two prominent people were awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Yerevan. Yervand Manaryan was born abroad, in the Diaspora and returned to Armenia, working here, and Mr. Piatrovsky was born in Yerevan and now heads one of the most prominent museums in the world, with the great and important contribution of our great compatriot Joseph Orbel.

Yerevan is such a city, Yerevan has gathered people from all over, Yerevan has gathered people from all the villages and regions of Armenia. Probably in no settlement of the Republic of Armenia, there is no such place where many citizens today do not have the honor of being called Yerevantsi, there is no community in the Diaspora where many of our compatriots born and born do not have the honor of being called Yerevantsi.

A few years ago I got a great impression and even posted about it on my Facebook page. It was a truly mystical scene when two Yerevan residents were talking in pure Western Armenian on the two sidewalks on Abovyan Street and they were arranging which cafe in Yerevan to meet for a cup of coffee, wine or beer in the evening. And for me, first and foremost, Yerevan is a symbol of the unity of our people, the integrity of our people, the identity of our people.

It is no coincidence that it is from Yerevan that the most important, most successful scene for our people opens, to our Biblical Mount Ararat.

We all love Yerevan and Yerevan loves us all. That is why, wherever we go, wherever we may be, our first aspiration and desire is to return here, return to the capital, return to Yerevan, return and walk again on the path that started 2801 years ago and still has to continue for millennia.

I congratulate all of us on this nice holiday day. I love Yerevan and its inhabitants. Thank you.”