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“Dear colleagues, friends,

This year, on May 9, we celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Great Victory, which is a part of our peoples’ historical chronicle. The victory against fascism in the Great Patriotic War and the end of the World War II is one of the most important events for the whole world. The World War II brought innumerous disasters and sufferings to humankind. It took dozens of millions of people’s lives; hundreds of cities and thousands of settlements were destroyed from the face of the earth. In unprecedented tense and severe war, the peoples of the Soviet Union defended the freedom and independence of their Motherland.

Beginning from the first days of the Great Patriotic War together with other nations the Armenian people defended the Motherland shared all the burdens and difficulties. We succeeded to reach the great victory thanks of the devotion and courage of more than 600.000 Armenians. For victory hundreds of thousands of our compatriots fell in the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, and that index is rather impressive, taking into consideration the correlation between the numbers of our people and victims. Our people’s more than 100 sons received the title the Hero of the Soviet Union. And among them are such renowned commanders, as Marshals Hovhannes Baghramyan, Armenak Khanperiants, Hamazasp Babajanian, Admiral Hovhannes Isakov. The contribution of the Armenian intelligence officers Gevorg and Gohar Vardanyans was great in the victory,” the Head of the RA Parliament said.

In response to the President of Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan in his speech also touched upon Garegin Nzhdeh’s activities, noting,

“I would like to state the following facts on the unacceptable attacks against Garegin Nzhdeh: in October of the previous year at the CIS Summit of the Heads of State Council in Ashgabat, the RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has noted that Armenia supports any constructive step directed to the objective coverage of the historical events of the World War II, and he is against the attempts of subjectively commenting them. We do not consider appropriate to make parallels between the Nazis and Garegin Nzhdeh. We call on our colleagues to get familiarized in detail with Nzhdeh’s biography and understand his importance for the Armenian people.

Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (Nzhdeh) is a political figure and hero of Armenia, who devoted his life to the independence and fight for freedom of Armenia. He was fighting for solving the Armenian issue related to the liberation of Armenia’s historical territories and the Armenians’ return to Historical Motherland. At the beginning of the 20^th century during the Balkan War, he fought against Turkish occupation in the Bulgarian Army, and in the years of World War I in the Russian Army, for which he had numerous awards (he was awarded the Cross of Saint George by the Tsarist Army).

In the years of World War II, Garegin Nzhdeh’s main goal was to prevent the possible Turkish campaign to Soviet Armenia, if the Germans occupied Transcaucasia.

So once again, I call on you to get familiarized in detail with the historical facts and never let such thing.

Our common victory has also become a preventive factor of the actions against wars and aggression, different forms of terrorism, aggressive nationalism, individual freedom and the right to human life.

Any war is always a tragedy. And the World War II, that has taken millions of people’s lives, has been the most terrible and destructive one. The Great Patriotic War shall serve as an example of the united awakening of different peoples and nations to protect their dignity and freedom. We shall keep the memory about this war and resolutely face any attempt of weakening of its importance and revising its results. The great victory is worth of being proud of numerous generations, as the common victory of all peoples is against evil. The memory of this victory shall consolidate the peoples on the path of better future, to which the participants of war have pinned hope so much.

The world community is obliged to do everything in order the tragic events never be repeated, in order the peoples can live in peace and harmony, without knowing horrors, provoking hatred, nationalism and xenophobia. In the modern realities, we shall work out new approaches, as well as raise the degree of partnership and the inter-parliamentary cooperation, especially in ensuring peace and security. It is necessary to make joint efforts for the resolute fight against terrorism, to prevent and fix the events, which can reduce the threat from terrorism.

Concluding my speech, I would like to congratulate all the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the World War II, congratulate all those, whose family members and close relatives have forged that victory at the cost of their lives, which means that we congratulate all of us, because everybody among us is connected with this victory with special threads.

Thank you for your attention.”