YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian handed over an award to carpenter Samvel Gasparyan during the award ceremony of the Hero Of Our Time in Gyumri’s Sev Berd on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the Independence of Armenia.

Before handing over the award, the President congratulated everyone on the pan-Armenian holiday – the Independence Day.

“I sincerely want to thank the Prime Minister firstly for this wonderful idea, its implementation and for the fact that today we all gathered here, in Gyumri to honor our heroes of today. Each of them is really a hero with his/her activity. They are different individuals, but each of them are true masters of their job. I also was happy to see that there were also repatriated persons among today’s heroes”, the President said.

In his remarks the President also called on all Armenians to return to the homeland. “It’s time to come back home”, he said.

The President noted that Gyumri and its resident are also the heroes of our time. “Losing half of his city, population, understanding that our people are in fight and it’s not his time, he bore his difficulty with dignity. Time has come, and I think, Mr. Prime Minister, today is the first day of the future of Gyumri and its resident, its new, free and creative life”, he said.

Today, the Third Republic of Armenia is celebrating its 28th anniversary of Independence.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan