March 1 is Not a Day of Mourning: Nikol Pashinyan

“March 1 is not a day of mourning at all. Of course, we mourn the fact of the victims, we commemorate their memory, but in reality, March 1 has a much broader context, and the essence of our fallen brothers’ struggle is about something entirely different,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during the opening of a monument dedicated to the victims of March 1.

“In fact, March 1 was about the lack or absence of democracy in 2008. This is how we should understand the significance of March 1. And at least in that regard, the struggle and sacrifices of March 1 have reached their destination; today, the issue of rigging elections in Armenia is already a turned page that cannot be revisited. The guarantor of this is not any government or party but the people of Armenia, who have finally adjusted their goals during 30 years of independence and statehood,” Pashinyan said.

He noted that the people's goal is to live freely and creatively in an independent, sovereign, and strong state. “March 1 was about how we use the time we have as a state. On March 1, and later in September 2020, the wasted times that we should have used to build a state, institutions, independence, sovereignty, prosperity, and economy were essentially expressed,” Pashinyan added, emphasizing that March 1 is not a cause but a consequence.

“All our problems are not causes but consequences. They are a consequence of our idleness in some places, and in others, going too far in making compromises and showing tolerance towards many phenomena,” he noted.