President
Report by Serzh Sargsyan Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia at the 17th Party Congress. 1
18.12.2021
Dear colleagues,
I greet you all at the Republican Party’s 17th regular congress, and wish everyone productive work.
This is a regular but not an ordinary congress: we can say without exaggeration that it is being held at a time when our state and people face serious challenges. We, the Republicans, have been at the roots of fighting for Armenia’s independence, have played a key role in the state-building process and, therefore, this situation is very concerning for us and dictates certain priorities for our work.
Today, we have the opportunity and we are even bound by duty to discuss the developments that affected our state, our people and the Republican Party in the period following the previous party congress, make honest assessments and talk about the future of our state and the party.
Dear Colleagues,
Today we should not just discuss internal, partisan issues, or define and formulate our political guidelines, take note of proposals, or develop an agenda.
We cannot pay tribute to formalism and thus fake ourselves. Formalism has never been relevant to who we are. Therefore, we must record the bitter reality without mitigating words.
- The reality is that today every fifth passenger leaves Armenia with one-way ticket, and this is indeed a ‘record’ statistics, of course in negative sense. Hold on for a second, and try to imagine the degree of this disaster.
While we are talking about the challenges facing our country, many families are just bidding farewell to their relatives with tears in the eyes and cherish a secret hope for a safe refuge in a foreign country.
- The reality is that today almost every third citizen is poor in Armenia, and this figure has drastically worsened over the last two years. According to the World Bank’s upper poverty line, 47.6% of the population is poor in Armenia. Meanwhile, only three years ago, people had an average satisfaction of basic needs.
- The reality is that following the 44-day war 35,000 Artsakh-based Armenians, or more than 8,000 families were left homeless as their homes went under the control of Azerbaijan. This is not just naked statistics: this is human destinies, family cemeteries lost to the enemy, childhood memories, lost fortune and jeopardized identity.
- The reality is that 5,000 families lost their hope in the 44-day war as many of those killed in the war were the only breadwinner in the family. Around 5,000 young people did not celebrate their wedding; 5,000 Armenian families never established, and no children were born. This demographic tragedy was exacerbated by the global pandemic, which took thousands of innocent lives and left bitter statistics and distorted destinies.
At the end of 2020 the lowest 70-year demographic curve was registered in Armenia because the rate of deaths and births had almost equaled. That is indeed a huge catastrophe. This anti-national government of individuals without sense of homelands 'washed their hands’ like Pontius Pilate did by turning their backs on our compatriots, leavings our soldiers alone on the battlefield. With the families of these soldiers they tried to justify their own inaptitude by calling the Armenian soldiers deserters, while the healthcare system’s failures were represented as an international norm.
The data for this year is yet to be summarised obviously, but the first 10 months of 2021 compared to the same period of last year yielded death rate increase by 6.3 percent.
- The reality is that our society is polarized, demoralized and hurt today more than ever. Surveys have shown that about 70% of citizens are not interested in political processes. People have become indifferent and refuse to face reality by virtue of their self-defense instinct. Can we blame our compatriots for despair? Have we been able to give hope in their hearts with our actions? We have a share of responsibility in this matter, and we will talk about it today indeed.
- The reality is that our hard-earned national security, our diplomatic, military, and no less important digital sovereignty have been dilapidated.
- The reality is, our country partakes in the negotiations as an economic and legal entity, while we are a nation-state with our distinct national identity. They can dull the vigilance of people with different propaganda tricks, feed them with epic lies and keep in the so-called digital ‘Matrix’ – one where the yogurt is black and the political leader is making victories only with a “strict” look. None of this can last long. You cannot make fools of people permanently; you should not hide behind disappointed and discouraged people to protect yourself from words of reason and common sense.
- The reality is that as a result of a nationwide disaster they are trying to remove human dignity from the national agenda in our country. Who is the man without dignity? Note that dignity is not just a word. It is an inalienable human right. They are trying to deprive our compatriots of this right following the act of capitulation, exacerbated by national humiliation and the lack of security guarantees, when political opponents and their supporters are deprived of their right to private life and wiretaped routinely.
When the family of a fallen soldier is kept waiting for hours in order to get what the state owes them. When compensation from the Insurance Foundation for the Servicemen, funded by taxpayer money and donors, is delivered as a personal favor of the capitulant for which a mourning woman has to stand before the camera and thank the authorities. By the way, this is the same foundation for which we have been severely criticized by the representatives of the current regime who are shamelessly wasting what others have created. Dignity is an inalienable right, the absence of which gives birth to an indifferent and demoralized society, which becomes unable to act even from the instinctive position of its own security. The psychology of capitulation yields to decaying societies.
This is the bitter reality. It hurts to say it. But living in it just drives people crazy. Still we must talk about problems not for mourning, but for recovery. HOPING for recovery, so to speak. On the way to this recovery of hope for the future of our country, we must analyze the problems soberly by accepting our share of past failures with honesty and courage, and taking our share of responsibility for this path of hope.
Today and here I want to be open and clear, if you want - even vulnerably open and straightforward. I have not yet overcome the pain of my personal losses, but I am standing in front of you realizing that I cannot disengage and quit at this crucial stage when our our endangered independent statehood is falling apart. You cannot be offended of your homeland. Neither be offended of your people. Even when you are not yet fully understood.
With my comrades-in-arms, with the parents of many of you here we have gone through a lot, a whole way to life and death; we died with every fallen soldier on the battlefield and reborn with every defended height.
For many years the hidden wishes and enthusiasm that have been covertly nurtured by some circles alleging to “Yield Artsakh and live better” destroyed the foundations of our thirty-year independence. The issue of Artsakh has been and remains an existential one for our people, the cornerstone of our ethnic identity as a sovereign entity. Unfortunately, our people had to go through a whole bloody war with many losses to realize this.
Today, there are 85 nations worldwide with a population of 3 to 30 million that have a language, culture, religion, but they have no statehood. Do we really want to join their ranks by giving to oblivion the blood shed by our fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives for independence?
My comrades-in-arms and I have never sought refuge in a bunker. Our generation believed that honoring the duty before the homeland was not heroism. Protecting the security of our people has been our duty and service. Our generation believed that deeds would speak for themselves. At the same time, in terms of international relations, it should be noted that there have been no victories and territorial gains after World War II without falling under international sanctions regime.How come we failed to clearly explain to our people the importance of such a fortune? Instead, the idea of “let us yield and live better” was being widely advertised in our country.
Not that I want to, but let me just ask: are doing better now?