S.Sargsyan: Armenian Armed Forces are argument for peace preservation

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent today a congratulatory message on the occasion of Army Day.

According to the presidential press service, the message reads:

“No nation probably suffered serious and tragic consequences of the absence of their armed forces as much as we did. Perhaps this is the reason why our army has felt special treatment of our people since the moment of its formation. It has been a people’s army since the day of its formation.

We did not intend to form and maintain such an army as we have today. We had to organize our forces so as to organize our defense in the war forced upon us. We had to become organized so as to prevent massacres and ethnic cleansing committed methodically before our eyes and the eyes of the whole world. Moreover, there were public and official threats to commit new massacres and new ethnic cleansing against us. These threats were more than real. Some of them were carried out at that time, some – later.

It was at that crucial moment that the Armenian people formed their army from scratch. Under conditions of the war, blockade and hunger, the Armenian people formed their army so as to say the following words: “That’s enough!” A language of threats must not be used when speaking to an Armenian and someone else in the world. The Armenian army rose in the way that the enemy did not and could not expect. Our heroes fell - they returned our right to life and dignity at the expense of their lives. We bow our heads before the memory of those, thanks to whose courage we call our army today a victorious army - a force that compelled the enemy to accept a ceasefire and relative peace, a force that maintains peace and stability in our region and that has been and will be a reliable rear of Artsakh.

I am convinced that the war against Armenia and Artsakh was unleashed and occasionally broke out mostly for one reason: our strength and potential were underestimated. This had a severe impact on everybody and tragic consequences for the peoples of Armenia, Artsakh, and Azerbaijan. Today the Armed Forces of Armenia can hardly be underestimated. This is a serious argument for peace preservation. No one believes anymore in fairy tales about fast and easy wars.

We have never begun and will not begin a war. This is obvious. Even at the moments when we definitely had an advantage on the battlefield, we kept saying the Artsakh problem had no military solution. We wish you to show your professional and high moral qualities only during military exercises. I wish you not to use your abilities on the battlefield”.