Armenian PM addresses congratulatory message on Citizen’s Day

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has sent a message on the occasion of Citizen's Day:

"Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Today we celebrate Citizen's Day, and I congratulate you all on this holiday.

Citizen's Day is about the fact that the people of the Republic of Armenia are the ones who hold power in our country.
This has been an irreversible reality in Armenia for the past seven years, as elected authorities at all levels have been formed as a result of the people's vote. Since the People's Non-Violent Velvet Revolution of 2018, no election at any level has been rigged in Armenia; even the very idea that such a phenomenon ever existed has been forgotten.

This is a great occasion for congratulations. Our Government is the guarantor of the people's free expression, but the people themselves must also protect their right to free expression through their own active participation, and this is extremely important.

This holiday is about the freedom of the citizen, and the citizen of the Republic of Armenia is free. Freedom of assembly, speech, and the press have been guaranteed since the People's Non-Violent Velvet Revolution of 2018 — to the extent that some citizens even perceive it as a threat to their freedom. But here, too, the government and the ruling majority have little to intervene in; self-regulation mechanisms must ensure the further development of a culture of freedom.
The government has guaranteed, and will continue to guarantee, the freedom of the citizen.

Citizen's Day is also about prosperity. Since the People's Non-Violent Velvet Revolution of 2018, Armenia’s economy has grown by 43.5 percent, and the state budget has seen an additional $4.2 billion in revenues — factors that are primary indicators of prosperity, prosperity that is based on lawful and creative work.

Citizen's Day is about intolerance towards corruption. Since the People's Non-Violent Velvet Revolution of 2018, anti-corruption institutions have been established in Armenia: the Corruption Prevention Commission, the Anti-Corruption Committee, the Court of Three Instances, the Institute for the Confiscation of Illegal Property, and the Institute for the Protection of Community Interests.

The primary initiator of anti-corruption efforts and the leader of the anti-corruption struggle is the Government and the ruling majority. Systemic corruption has been eradicated from Armenia, and a daily struggle is underway against network corruption. More and more public support is needed in this struggle.

Above all, Citizen's Day is about the state and statehood, because there is no Citizen without the State, and because the State is the identity of the Citizen.

Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,

Since the People's Non-Violent Velvet Revolution of 2018, tension around this nuance has been accumulating drop by drop, because the key meaning of the Revolution must be fulfilled. The key change in citizen-state relations before and after the Revolution is as follows: Before the Revolution, the state was the owner of the citizen; after the Revolution, the citizen is the owner of the state.
This key change must become not only a matter of consciousness, social psychology, and tradition, but also everyday practice for all of us.

This change is happening, but not without obstacles. And this is the path that, if we continue to follow it, will allow us to achieve our highest goal — the survival of our independent state, the Republic of Armenia.

That path leads through complex knots of foreign and domestic politics, sometimes through collapses and tragedies. But we are following that path without losing sight of the core identity of the Citizen for a single moment — the interest of the state. Our policies have been and continue to be built around that interest.

This is a difficult but inevitable path — the path of independence, sovereignty, state consciousness, and peace — and we will walk that path without expecting applause.

Glory to the martyrs, and long live the Republic of Armenia!

Long live the Citizen of the Republic of Armenia!"