15 minute read
Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has sent a congratulatory message on the occasion of the New Year. The message in full is presented below:
“Dear people, dear citizens of the Republic of Armenia,
Since independence, 2025 is the first calendar year in which we have had no casualties or injuries as a result of shooting with Azerbaijan. We have not had any casualties as a result of shooting on the Armenia–Azerbaijan border since March 2024 - for more than 22 months now.
This is not a coincidence, but the implementation of the strategy delegated by the people of Armenia — that is, by you — to the Government and the parliamentary majority in the 2021 snap elections.
This strategy is expressed in the ideology of Real Armenia and is connected to our newly established practice of reading and rereading the history of the Armenian people, searching for and finding hidden messages in it, and turning those messages into knowledge applicable to real life.
We were accused of conspiring to change that history.
Meanwhile, our goal was not to change the history of Armenia that had already happened, but to change the history that was yet to happen.
Our goal was ultimately to overcome the role delegated to us by the martyred people, and at the cost of many victims and sacrifices, we achieved that goal.
We were accused of acting against our identity, while we saw the obvious: that our identity is our state, our state is our identity. We invited all citizens of the Republic of Armenia, as well as Armenians around the world, to see the obvious reality that the agenda of strengthening the state is an agenda of strengthening identity. We are strengthening our state; therefore, we are strengthening our national identity.
We were accused of denying historical Armenia, denying our history, while our policies are ultimately the result of listening to our history, which tells us: ‘Don’t repeat me; stop repeating me.’
The inspiration for the ideology of Real Armenia is historical Armenia, whose fate tells us: ‘Don’t follow my path; don’t turn the Republic of Armenia into historical Armenia.’
In 2021, we said, ‘There is a future.’ Today, we say, ‘The future is today,’ and today we live in the future for which you, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, voted in 2021. 2025 is the first full calendar year of that peaceful future — of peace.
We have not only formulated the ideology of Real Armenia, but have also made the Republic of Armenia a real state that operates in the real world.
The geography of my international bilateral official meetings in 2025 is unimaginable: President of the United States, President of Russia, President of China, President of France, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President of Türkiye, President of Kazakhstan, President of the United Arab Emirates, President of Azerbaijan, President of Tajikistan, the Pope, President of the European Council, President of the European Commission, Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister of Belgium, Prime Minister of Georgia, Prime Minister of Estonia, Prime Minister of Albania.
In all these meetings, we pursued one goal: to position Armenia as a fully independent and sovereign state that does not need guardianship, but can understand its own needs and challenges, make decisions necessary for its longevity - not merely for its survival. And we have achieved that goal.
We are accused of being pro-Turkish and pro-Azerbaijani, while our task is to see and understand our region and environment with our own eyes and not allow our historical -yes, justified - fears of confronting our region to be used to manipulate us and break our will to be independent and sovereign.
And we have achieved that goal: the Republic of Armenia today is a state that is more independent than ever, more sovereign than ever, more secure than ever.
Epoch-making changes are taking place in our region: for the first time since independence, trains are delivering cargo to the Republic of Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan; the first signs of bilateral trade with Azerbaijan are emerging; the first major cases of commodity acquisition have been recorded.
“This is a new history being written, and this is a history of peace.”
The Prime Minister emphasized the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan as the culmination of that history.
“On August 8, 2025, at a summit convened at the White House on the initiative of U.S. President Donald Trump, we adopted a Declaration with the President of Azerbaijan, which was also signed as a witness by President Trump.”
In our presence, the foreign ministers of the two countries initialed the Agreement “On the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the text of which we and official Baku had announced in March 2025.
Prior to that, in August–October 2024, the deputy prime ministers of the two countries signed the Regulation on the joint activity of the state commissions for the border delimitation of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was later ratified in both countries, gaining the highest legal force.
This is the first document signed and ratified in a bilateral format between Armenia and Azerbaijan and is, in fact, a cornerstone of peace. The document enshrines the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration as the basic principle for the delimitation of the state border between the two countries.
This is the only formula for real peace: to recognize each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within the administrative borders of the Soviet republics, because any other formula would turn into an endless and bloody debate about which is the Republic of Armenia and which is the Republic of Azerbaijan. That debate would have no end.
This is why, in March 2025, I announced the need to discontinue the Karabakh movement. The key point is that I did not make either this statement or the Prague statement of October 6, 2022, as a concession, as some are trying to present it, but rather as a vital necessity arising from the conscious and real interests of the Republic of Armenia.”
This is an important nuance. We are accused of making unilateral concessions. The truth is that we have made no concessions — absolutely no concessions. We have pursued the agenda of the sustainability of our state; we have pursued the interests of our state.
The narrative that “Karabakh was ours, now it is no longer ours” reflects the mindset of someone trapped in a geopolitical framework, whereas the consciousness of the state and the citizen says: “The Republic of Armenia was not ours, now it is ours.”
Yes, at the cost of the lives of our martyrs; yes, at the cost of our suffering and deprivation — and therefore all the more precious, all the dearer than anything else — because it is nothing less than a dream come true. The Republic of Armenia is our dream come true, and today we are living in that dream.
Dear people, dear citizens,
We have reached the future, and we live in the future, and we will no longer remain in the past. The year 2026 will be a beautiful continuation of our present future.
In a few minutes, we will welcome the New Year, having recorded high economic growth.
Thus, together with you, we will have achieved the goal set in the 2021 elections of ensuring an average annual economic growth of 7 percent. Since the People’s, non-violent Velvet Revolution of 2018, the economy of the Republic of Armenia has grown by more than 50 percent. In 2025, state budget tax revenues are 30 percent higher than the total state budget revenues in 2017.
This is thanks to you, to the businesspeople working in Armenia, creating results and paying taxes as prescribed by law, and to those citizens who do not forget to provide or request a cash register receipt. Thank you to all of you. You are the foundation on which our homeland-state is built.
It is thanks to the people working in the Republic of Armenia, creating results, paying taxes as prescribed by law, and providing or requesting a cash register receipt that, in a few minutes, the comprehensive health insurance system will begin to operate, with the state budget covering costs for pensioners over 65 and children under the age of 18.
This means a significant increase in the standard of living of pensioners, since it is obvious that their largest and primary expenses are related to healthcare, and these expenses will now be significantly and tangibly reduced. In the case of non-cash transactions by pensioners, the refund will increase to 20 percent; the same applies to those receiving benefits.
In 2026, we will complete the program for the construction, reconstruction, or major renovation of 300 schools and 500 kindergartens, and will immediately launch a new program for the construction, reconstruction, or major renovation of another 300 schools, 100 kindergartens, as well as at least 100 art schools, sports schools, and sports centers. The Academic City megaproject has entered its practical phase, and the pace of implementation will accelerate.
What do I have to say to those who continue to live in poor social conditions? Our strategy for addressing this issue is encapsulated in the well-known saying: “If you want to feed a man, don’t give him a fish, but teach him how to fish.” A capable person must earn a living through work.
If someone works and cannot make a living, then the work is not sufficiently productive, and we must support and help that person increase their effectiveness, acquire the skills needed to work efficiently, a path that also lies through education and training.
The Government has three solutions to any issue in any field: first, education; second, education; third, education. Education should become, and is becoming, a national way of life and mindset, which is key to solving all external and internal, economic and social challenges.
Thanks to this strategy, there are now teachers and private servicemen in Armenia earning salaries of 700,000 drams or more. This is a real achievement of a real citizen of Real Armenia.
In 2026, the rising international prestige of the Republic of Armenia will be clearly demonstrated. In May, Yerevan will host the 8th Summit of the European Political Community, and in October, the COP-17 Summit on Biodiversity. Armenia will welcome the heads of several dozen countries and delegations from hundreds of states.
The year 2026 also promises significant economic and investment activity, as implementation of the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” project begins, institutionalizing the lifting of the blockade of the Republic of Armenia, an epoch-making development that seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.
The most important event of 2026, however, will be the regular elections to the National Assembly, to be held in June. In these elections, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia must irrevocably stand up for the peace they have created, the state they have reestablished, and their — the people’s — power.
The elections will be free, fair, and democratic. The people will win. The Republic of Armenia will win. The future will win — the future that is today, here, and now.
The year 2026 will be a year of consolidation and unity — a unity whose key is the Republic of Armenia: its internationally recognized sovereign territory, the right of its citizens to live freely, prosperously, and happily, and the independence and state interests of the Republic of Armenia.
Glory to the martyrs. Long live the Republic of Armenia.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I love you all.