YEREVAN. – August 23, 1990 is a key phase in the history of the Armenian people, and, as a result, Tsarist Russia’s vassal Armenia commenced the process of becoming a country of free citizens, National Self-Determination Union Chairman Paruyr Hayrikyan said, during a press conference on Thursday, in connection with the 22nd anniversary of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.

In Hayrikyan’s words, Armenia’s overall approach toward national holidays is a rather distorted. 

“The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1990, but we consider the day of the referendum for independence [that is, September 21] as Independence Day, which is absurd. Any literate neighbor would say: ‘Poor Azerbaijanis are independent for ninety years, but this twenty-year-independent nation, Armenia, attacked, seized land from the Azerbaijanis.’ [The Independence Day] should have been the date for the founding of Armenian statehood, 4,504 years ago,” Hayrikyan said.

Also, he raised an alarm that the best way to defeat the adversary is when the latter is turned into someone with an unsound mindset. As per the politician, this was carried out against the Armenian nation, and it is important for the new generation to be able to free itself from this adverse phenomenon.  

Photo by Sona Barseghyan