YEREVAN. – President Armen Sarkissian on Monday issued a message of congratulations on the centennial of the First Republic of Armenia and of the heroic battles that took place in May.

“One hundred years ago, our people—[who had] seen genocide, [and] was on the verge of life and death—restored, with a supreme effort, the Armenian independent statehood,” the message reads, in particular. “Today we are obligated to grasp, with a special depth, the significance of the Armenian statehood.

“As a result of the recent changes that took place in Armenia, we [now] have an opportunity for a drastic start, for which there are sufficient human and institutional resources. We must combine those resources, we must act more operatively and flexibly because the times of a breakthrough create an opportunity for a flight.”