YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, ARMENPRESS. In New Armenia the concepts of family and home should have new relationships with the homeland, with the society and the statehood, where the interest of the family shouldn’t oppose the society’s interest and where the interest of home shouldn’t oppose the homeland’s interest, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote in a Facebook post.

“You all know how important the concepts of Home and family are for each Armenian. These are concepts which develop the identity, dignity and origin of each of us.  

But unfortunately, for many years a reality was developed where with the values of providing for family and having a home numerous erosive occurrences were frequently legitimized.

Sometimes bribery, corruption, cronyism and injustices, numerous types of criminal activities were explained and legitimized with the understandable need of providing for families, earning money for bread and supplying material means for the home.

The concepts of home and family have even survived political mutations, developing under the logic of clan and gang structure.

 As a result we have a reality when corruption systems have put the interest of the family opposing to the interest of society, when the home transformed into a territory with high walls acting against the homeland and separated from the homeland.

I am convinced that in New Armenia the concepts of family and home must have new relationships with the fatherland, the society and statehood, where the family’s interest must not oppose the society’s interest, where the home’s interest must not oppose the fatherland’s interest, where home and family must not be small areas enclosed with walls and gates, but rather a statehood enclosed with state borders, nation engaging with constitution and laws.

Armenia is my home, the people are my family.

This must be the motto pushing us forward, where the interest of the families of us all is harmonious with the society’s interest, where the interest of the homes of us all is harmonious with the fatherland’s interest, where the personal dignity and liberty of each of us are harmonious with the ideas of the society’s dignity and fatherland’s liberty.

This is one of the most important agendas of New Armenia’s value transformation, and it was this very change in perception that led to the Pan-Armenian revolution in spring of 2018, where people were perceiving each other as family, where the nation was perceiving itself as a big, happy and solidary family.

This is the reason that each of us, each Armenian around the world can surely say – Armenia is my home, the people are my family. And the Armenian people soaked in this kind of unity are unyielding and undefeatable,” he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan