“We will uphold independent Armenian statehood and restore our national dignity:” ARF

The Supreme Body of the ARF issued a statement on the occasion of the Day of the First Republic of Armenia, observed on May 28.

“Dear compatriots,
May 28, 1918 was a turning point in Armenian history. It was on May 28 that the people who had survived the Genocide replaced a death sentence with the creation of statehood.
At Sardarapat, Bash Aparan, and Karakilisa, we proved that there is no weapon in the world capable of defeating the will of a people to live on their own land.

True to its mission, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun took on the superhuman task of state-building under the most difficult of conditions. In a country full of orphans and refugees, in the midst of famine and war, the founding generation of the Republic, Aram Manoukian, Hovhannes Kachaznuni, Garegin Nzhdeh, Dro, Ruben Ter-Minasian, and other devoted individuals accomplished what seemed impossible and changed the fate of our people.

Today we find ourselves once again at a turning point. The fate of our state is in question, our identity is under attack, our Church is being persecuted, our people have been made refugees, and Armenian Artsakh has been lost.
Yet we know that the spirit of the heroic May Battles still lives within the Armenian people, that our generations know it by the name of Sardarapat.

The time has therefore come for awakening, for unity, for standing in defense of our values through a nationwide resistance. This is a struggle for identity and statehood, this is a new Sardarapat.

We will uphold independent Armenian statehood, restore our national dignity, and will not allow the fate of Armenians to be written at the behest of outsiders.

We exist, we will fight, and we will prevail.

Happy May 28!” – reads the ARF’s message.