Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,
Honorable President of the National Assembly,
Dear Cabinet members,
Representatives of the executive power,
MPs,
Dear representatives of the judiciary and local self-government bodies,
Dear people,
Dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

I congratulate everyone on May 28, the Republic Day. On this day in 1918, the Armenian people created a republic for the first time in its history. For the first time in our reality, a state was created where the power belongs to the people.

This epoch-making event took place in the conditions of the collapse of empires, the formation of a new empire and world order, when our people were able to prove their right to live in the battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan, and Karakilisa.

But the First Republic lived for only two and a half years, also because after winning the existential war, declaring a state, we did not manage to formulate our vision of living in an independent state, we did not manage to make living in the First Republic comfortable and profitable for ourselves.

The First Republic did not manage to position itself as a means of security, well-being and happiness of its own citizens, because, in fact, it did not have a single day of peace throughout its existence. Famine, emigration of the genocide-survivors, internal disputes, centuries-old lack of economy, state institutions, culture of statehood, foreign influence, war caused the fall of the First Republic.

This, however, does not belittle the role of the First Republic at all. After a break of more than 540 years, the Armenian people again had a state and for the first time had a Republic, and the lessons of that Republic are on our table today.

Today I want to emphasize only one of those many lessons. Living in the Republic of Armenia should be comfortable and beneficial for the citizen, prosperity and happiness should be today and not in a distant future, and the moment to unravel the historical knots is now and not later.

The First Republic did not have time, but we still have. The First Republic could not stand after the war of 1920, but we are standing after the war of 2020 and we are building a homeland-state that is here and now, and we will no longer go to seek a new homeland, because our homeland is our state.

That state is both a goal and a means. It is a goal, because the state is the one that can best express the interest of its founder, the people, it is a means, because the state is the one that can best express the interest of its founder, the people. And that interest forces us to have security, welfare and happiness for our long-suffering people, and this is possible under conditions of normal relations with neighbors, only and only under conditions of peace, something that the First Republic did not have, something that, unfortunately, still does not have the Third Republic.

This is the reason why we have adopted and are consistently implementing the peace agenda, because all our martyrs fell for the sake of their people's happiness and not suffering, and it is the prosperous, developed, living and safe Armenia, the Republic of Armenia, the State of Armenia that will bring eternal peace to the souls of all our martyrs.

Glory to all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the motherland.

And long live the Republic of Armenia!
Long live the Republic of Armenia!