Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the reception organized by “Save Armenia” in Washington in honor of the Prime Minister’s visit, Armenian government press office reports.
Sam Brownback, Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit and Save Armenia Board Member, welcomed the visit of the Armenian Prime Minister and emphasized the organization’s commitment to supporting Armenia in advancing its agendas. He noted that “Save Armenia” aims to unite Christian leaders and other interested groups in supporting Armenia.
The reception was attended by “Save Armenia” co-founder Robert Nicholson, a number of diplomats, public figures, and politicians.
In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan expressed his gratitude for organizing the reception and noted that it is an honor for him to be present at the event, along with organizations and friends who have stood by Armenia and the Armenian people for decades. In his speech, the Prime Minister, in particular, noted: “Of course, I must say that now Armenia is at a crossroads, a very important period for our country. It is very important to define, to decide what is the best way to support Armenia on this important and difficult path.
Our region, in general, is extremely complex, full of deep historical contradictions, which are also reflected today. But I think that now we should focus on an agenda that will open up prospects for the future, which is the most important thing.
If you ask what is the most effective way to support Armenia from the US perspective, I would say that including the agenda for achieving peace in the South Caucasus in the list of priorities of the US political establishment would be very important, because of course, we promote freedoms, including religious freedom, but you know, I believe that the best tool for protecting people's freedoms is sustainable peace, because an environment of conflict is the most suitable environment for violating all possible rights of people.
This is the reason why we are now consentrated on the peace agenda, because we believe that only having sustainable peace in our region can create a proper environment for guaranteeing democracy, for guaranteeing rights of people, and for guaranteeing development of Armenia.
Hopefuly you know that now Armenia is striving for democracy, we are trying to deepen and make our democracy institutional, make it sustainable so that it does not depend on the political will of the ruling teams. This is very important. I believe that democracy in Armenia is irreversible. Now there is only one tool with which an attempt is made to disrupt Armenia’s democratic path, and that is the tools of war, tools escalation and tools conflict.
This is the reason why we are so concentrated on this agenda, because we believe that peace is very important and crucial to freedom, including religious freedom, for democracy and development, and for the future and happiness of our people.
Of course, we count on our friends, we count on our friends of “Save Armenia” organization. We appreciate very much what has been done so far, and we hope that you will continue your support and that your support will be more and more concentrated,on supporting specifically the peace agenda. We hope that our peace agenda will also become your agenda as well, which I think will serve to global prosperity, the global success of democracy, freedom and happiness. Thank you very much.”
