Armenia’s third president, Serzh Sargsyan, said May 28 was above all a “victory of spirit” that proved strength is not measured only by the number of soldiers or weapons.
In a Republic Day message, Sargsyan accused the authorities of “cynically staging a military parade” in Republic Square despite unresolved consequences of the war, including casualties, territorial losses, occupied border areas, displaced Artsakh Armenians, prisoners held in Baku, missing persons and vulnerable state borders.
“Living in fear under foreign domination is worse than death, living without a homeland is disgraceful, while living freely and with dignity in one’s own homeland is a vital necessity,” Sargsyan stated.
According to him, this was the deeper meaning of the victories in the battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan and Gharakilisa.
Sargsyan paid tribute to those who restored Armenian statehood, from soldiers to intellectuals and clergy, as well as to the founders of the First Republic.
Addressing current political developments, the former president argued that the authorities associated with military defeat and failures in governance are using state resources ahead of the elections to conceal the consequences of the war and promote themselves politically.
“This is an immoral political tactic aimed at hiding the catastrophic consequences of the war, the current poor condition of the army and responsibility for all of this,” he said.
Sargsyan stressed that the army “is not an election decoration,” but “the pride and worthy child of the nation,” which he claimed has now been abandoned.
He called the upcoming elections an opportunity to change the situation and urged citizens to unite on June 7 against what he described as a force symbolizing defeat, despair and the degradation of national values.
“Only in this way will our people prove worthy of a military parade held by a state with a victorious army,” Sargsyan concluded.
The election campaign, which began on May 8, will continue until June 5. June 6 will be observed as a day of silence, while voting will take place on June 7. On May 25, the Alliance Progressive Centrist Party announced its withdrawal from the race, after which the Central Electoral Commission invalidated the registration of the party’s electoral list. Ballot number 13 will therefore not appear in the upcoming elections.
