On September 21—Independence Day of the Republic of Armenia—a festive march set off from the grounds of the Matenadaran, organized by the ARF Armenia Youth Union.
The aim of the march was to affirm the idea of independence and to celebrate Independence Day together. Participants wore T-shirts bearing an image of Mount Ararat and the slogan, “Independence is an absolute value.”
The march proceeded along Mashtots Avenue, then through Sayat-Nova and Nalbandyan Streets.
It concluded at the monument to Aram Manukyan, the founder of the statehood of the Republic of Armenia, where the ARF Armenia Youth Union held an oath ceremony for new members.
Before the ceremony, speeches were delivered by Zhoray Avdalyan, a representative of the Central Board of the ARF Youth Union, and Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a representative of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia and a member of the National Assembly’s “Hayastan” faction.
“In its treacherous policy, Armenia’s current leadership is weakening what was gained at the cost of heroes’ blood,” said Zhoray Avdalyan.
Addressing Nikol Pashinyan’s intention to create a “Fourth Republic,” Ishkhan Saghatelyan stated that the announcement is, in fact, a self-incriminating admission.
“What the current regime is serving the Armenian people today is not the concept of a real and sovereign Armenia, but the model of Armenia imagined by Azerbaijan—small, weak, surrendered, and defeated; an Armenia whose inhabitants are deprived both of memory and of national identity,” he said.
At the close of the event, with Hambik Sassounian serving as godfather (sponsor), 50 new members joined the ranks of the ARF Armenia Youth Union.
