An official Republic Day event was held in Sardarapat. High-ranking officials attended, led by President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and NA Speaker Alen Simonyan.
The Prime Minister made a speech, noting: "The First Republic once again turned us into a state-building nation. For the first time in our history, a state system was outlined - a Republic, where the people of Armenia are the ones who hold power, and it is they who decide through elections who and how to govern the state."
According to him: "The First Republic refreshed, but did not strengthen the perception of statehood, sowed, but did not uproot democracy and freedom in us, because it did not have time for it. For almost the entire period of the Soviet Union, the First Republic was targeted as evil and became an object of ridicule and contempt. The Empire thereby pursued the goal of destroying the sprouts of independent statehood that the First Republic could have re-sprouted in our consciousness."
Nikol Pashinyan said, "In 1991, when Armenia regained its independence, it seemed that the 70-year-old propaganda had not left a deep mark on us; our fears of being independent and self-reliant had been overcome. But now, a retrospective analysis of the history of the Third Republic makes it obvious that our disdain for statehood, our fears of sovereignty and independence have not been fully overcome."
The Prime Minister noted that we often continue to perceive history and the world through the formulas that the imperial propaganda of the USSR consistently instilled in us.
According to the Prime Minister, our identity is our state.
"With an area of 29,743 square kilometers, the Republic of Armenia is an expression of our people's achievements, not their losses," he said.
According to the Prime Minister, the message of our history over the past four and a half centuries is that we should not repeat it.
"The security guaranteed by external forces is deceptive; we are the guarantors of our security."
"The state is a responsibility," said Nikol Pashinyan.
