Presence of a strong leading party provides for internal stability, which is very important. There can be no economic progress without that stability, therefore there can be no future. However today I see another danger. Superfluous stability could result in stagnation, a slow down, and still waters as a rule turn into swamp, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated at a convention on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

Speaking of the party’s history, the Armenian leader particularly said:

“Today, we commemorate a momentous jubilee – the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Republican Party of Armenia.

“The creation of the Party in 1990 was an exceptional event in Armenia’s political life. At the time, the Party’s founding leader, a freedom fighter and a statesman Ashot Navasardian’s personality, as well as his political biography were unfamiliar to many. A party, which was being created in a new reality, was called upon to breathe in a new life and offer new substance to our political realm. On one hand, it testified to the incessancy and continuity of the national struggle, i.e. preservation of legacy, on the other hand, our will and resolve to withstand existing challenges acquired a new organizational form.

“A strong adherent of exclusively peaceful and constitutional struggle, our party from day one of its creation realized however the necessity of armed struggle for the self-defense of the Armenian nation. It was obvious that our people and, particularly, its Artsakhi segment were being forced into war; it was obvious that war was inevitable. Our party was a force which was ready for that too – in the person of Independence Army and its devoted warriors. At the crucial moment, we together with the entire Armenian nation stood up to fight for freedom, and in that fight the Republican Party too had its significant share. We will not tire to honor and bow to the memory of all our martyrs, regardless of their political affiliation; thanks to them we have an entirely different Armenia and entirely different Artsakh. Glory to immortal Armenian heroes!”

“We are proud that in different periods of time our Party was led by such distinguished sons of our nation as Ashot Navasardian, Vazgen Sarkissian and Andranik Margarian. Under their leadership our Party matured, earned people’s trust and assumed pivotal role in governing the country,” the President said.

“Ashot Navasardian was the epitome of hope, aspiration, and energy. When many wouldn’t even dream of independent statehood, he was openly promoting that noble goal. He stood up against a system which was viewed as dreadful and invincible. Ashot Navasardian had a dream and he had a goal, a goal which today has become a reality - the reestablishment of independent Armenian statehood. To achieve that goal he endangered his well-being, sacrificed the serenity of his family, and his own chance to study. It is also thank to him and his brothers-in-arm that the Armenian freedom loving spirit prevailed, and we were given the opportunity to establish the Third Republic of Armenia,” said President Sargsyan.

“Vazgen Sarkissian is one of the brightest personalities in our modern history. He didn’t shy away from responsibility in the most difficult times – he came forward and displayed features of a true leader. He was the man who would not accept even the possibility of Artsakh – an indivisible part of our motherland – once again becoming a hostage to the whims of the Azerbaijani leadership. At that time the choice was very clear, and Vazgen had made his unequivocal and resolute decision. Today, we bear responsibility to his memory; today we bear responsibility to his and our common choice, made at the fateful moments of our history,” the Armenian leader said.

“And the third cherished name for our Party – Prime Minister Andranik Margarian. He was one of the most devoted patriots, able to find consensus, overcome difficulties, and advance national goals. His motives were honest; he was surrounded by accord because Andranik Margarian had catching humanism and loyalty to his country. He would respond, try to understand and appreciate every idea or initiative and would always try to help to implement it. Andranik Margarian was a statesman in the true meaning of the word and his work made him the pillar which fortified state philosophy and activities inspired by the vision of state building,” President Sargsyan said.

The loss of our three leaders was difficult for the party, he said.

“Jubilees are good occasions to access the past, sometimes to reaccess it. Our road was as thorny as was Armenia’s road. The twenty-year biography of our Party is inseparable from our nation’s biography. Armenia’s victories and defeats, achievements and failures are also ours; not because Armenia belongs to us but because we belong to Armenia, with our lives and our work we belong to Armenia.

“We are not going to invent the bicycle. The disease has a very simple cure – a well-developed democracy, a more active political dialogue, fervor for the creation of new development programs and persistent adaptation of the European standards into all areas of our political, social and economic lives. And I stress, it must be done with no exemptions or reservations.

“We should be able on one hand to stay clear of revolutionary shocks since they brought no good to any country ever, on the other hand we must avoid the danger of marking time; we must increase our pace. Our way is the golden middle. If during the previous decades one would talk of the inaptitude of our society in some areas (by the way, there was probably some truth to it), today we have a rather accomplished and self-organized society, we have serious and established political and social forces, which are able and must elevate the country to a qualitatively new level. Among those forces the Republican Party of Armenia has its own special place; it’s well-known that from the one who has been given much, much will be demanded,” the Armenian leader said.