Now or Never: Serzh Sargsyan's Address

The third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, has sent a message on the occasion of the Republic's Day. Below, we present his address.

“Let us show the world that Armenians have the right to live freely and independently. Now or never,” - this call by Aram Manukyan, directed at our people during a crucial period for the Armenian nation in 1918, unfortunately remains relevant more than a hundred years later.

A century ago, in a state of despair and on the brink of annihilation, the Armenian people found strength within themselves to rise against the enemy through a final superhuman effort and repelled them. Back then, there were individuals among the authorities who held weak, fearful, and defeatist attitudes, ready to surrender the homeland to the enemy without resistance, prepared to evacuate the residents of Yerevan and position themselves atop the Kanaker heights.

However, there were forces and individuals with honor and courage, who considered surrendering to the enemy as a disgrace and, led by the head of the Yerevan National Council, Aram Manukyan, defied that humiliating decision and called the people to a decisive fight.

“The soldiers are going to surrender. Let them go! As for me, I am going to die. Those who still do not consider themselves morally dead, let them follow me,” Garagin Nzhdeh was urging the thousands of desperate people gathered in the yard of the Holy Mother of God Church in Dilijan during those days, rallying them against the enemy and the traitors waving a white flag.

Our other brave fighters from the May heroic battles, such as General Movses Silikyan, commander of the Yerevan garrison, and the heroes of the battles of Sardarapat, Daniel and Paul Bek-Pirumyan, along with Thovmas Nazarbekyan, the monks of the Mother See led by Catholicos Gevorg VI Surenyants, and other devoted sons of the homeland were also calling for resistance and never to surrender.

In this struggle of heroes and cowardly capitulators, of patriots and anti-national types, the spirit of freedom and heroism of the Armenian nation prevailed. The Armenian people demonstrated a glorious example of defending their homeland and honor heroically, which became a brilliant beginning for the restoration of the Armenian state after a centuries-long interruption.

The victories of May 1918 in the battles of Sardarapat, Bash-Aparan, and Qarakilisa opened a new and glorious chapter in the history of the Armenian people.

Eternal glory and honor to the bright memory of our heroes. This historical reflection aims to draw parallels and soberly assess and orient ourselves in the current equally fateful situation: either we rebel against the state-destroying policy of the capitulating authorities in the same way our heroic ancestors did, and we pass on to future generations a free, sovereign, and powerful Armenia, or we earn a fate exclusively found in the history textbooks reserved for other nations. Now or never!”