Your Eminences, esteemed guests, dear compatriots, and comrades,
We are convening the 35th ARF World Congress in Armenia at a time of grave distress for our people and an endangered homeland. It is evident that at this stage of geopolitical, military-political, and internal national transformations, Armenia and the Armenian nation face a crisis and the most serious challenges.
Externally, Armenia finds itself in a difficult and complex situation, where external forces are acting against it. Due to the orientations of the newly elected U.S. president and the rise of authoritarian governments in various countries, the global system is collapsing at its foundations, along with international law and the very concept of individual and collective rights as established in the mid-20th century.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have become increasingly self-confident, arrogant, and, as always, uncompromising toward us. Russia remains preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, though its conclusion could bring a realignment of forces, allowing Russia to once again turn its attention to the South Caucasus. Meanwhile, Iran stands as one of the few states practically ready to support Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. In short, the regional and global powers have become highly active and are engaged in fierce competition in the South Caucasus, once again making our homeland a geopolitical battleground.
However, this external situation in no way justifies the Armenian government’s severe political and domestic failures, which, on a national scale, create existential internal threats and endanger even the very existence of Armenia. No external challenge can be overcome without first addressing the internal national challenges, which are not merely domestic issues but have long since become externally influenced as well.
The victories of Armenia and the Armenian people in the 1990s have been diminished by an unbroken chain of defeats and concessions since the autumn of 2020. The catastrophe of the Artsakh war and its depopulation, Armenia’s failed foreign policy, and the deep internal divisions within the nation stand as the disastrous legacies of Armenia’s current government over the past five years.
The once victorious Armenia of the past thirty years now appears to the world as a defeated, demoralized state, whose government is willing to grant unilateral concessions to the enemy at every turn.
Artsakh, which served as Armenia’s defensive stronghold, has been emptied of its indigenous population and is now unable to protect the homeland’s borders, which continue to be attacked and violated by Turkish-Azerbaijani forces.
Instead of presenting the Armenian people with a strong and self-confident homeland, the current authorities have placed Armenia under an existential threat. The leader of Armenia’s ruling regime is actively working to weaken the country’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution at the demand of the enemy.
Rather than uniting the collective strength of the Armenian people in this time of crisis, Armenia’s current government remains fixated on creating artificial divisions within the nation, undermining the army’s quality and fighting spirit, establishing a police-state dictatorship, dismantling the Republic of Artsakh, disregarding the rights of Artsakh’s people, conducting anti-Artsakh propaganda in Armenia, instilling indifference and national apathy—particularly among the youth—degrading national values, undermining the Armenian Cause, and seeking to weaken the structures of the Armenian Diaspora.
To carry out this multi-level assault, the Armenian authorities are extensively using all state levers at their disposal, including their parliamentary majority and executive power. For them, there are no longer any national sacred values, fundamental priorities, genuine democratic aspirations, or the pursuit of justice—only the singular obsession with retaining power at all costs.
Moreover, deepening internal discord, the current leadership has sown additional seeds of division among small diaspora groups during its meetings in Western countries. Through shocking statements that serve Turkish and Azerbaijani interests, the Armenian leadership has once again pitted their concept of a “real” Armenia against historical Armenia, disregarded the global campaign for genocide recognition, trampled upon Armenian values and inalienable rights, and presented Armenia’s salvation as being dependent solely on Western alignment while ignoring regional powers and Armenia’s strategic interests.
The current authorities’ attempts to distort national and state principles, to revise history and historical realities, are proof of their political bankruptcy and a disguised reproduction of Turkish-Azerbaijani narratives.
It is a nation-destroying absurdity to set national and state ideologies against each other. The state exists to realize the national ideology and strategic objectives.
All of this has created disappointment, deeper depression, and even fractures in Armenia-Diaspora relations—an unacceptable yet unfortunate reality.
The ARF rejects any sense of despair and surrender because we firmly believe that the Armenian nation possesses the strength to transform defeat into victory and restore its national dignity. To us, the recent losses are temporary—the disaster of 2020 was merely a lost battle, and our unwavering struggle against Armenia’s enemies continues on all fronts.
With this conviction, we remain committed to the pursuit of justice for Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian people, both within the homeland and globally.
Given the current situation, as an organization with global reach and experience, the ARF stands at the threshold of a full-scale mobilization, operating under emergency conditions. Faithful to our mission, the ARF is obligated to exert maximum effort to halt the ongoing crisis.
The fundamental national priorities at this stage, stemming from our strategic goals, are as follows:
- Restoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Declaration of Independence.
- Securing the collective right of the Artsakh people to return and creating conditions that guarantee their sovereignty and security in their own homeland.
To achieve these, Armenia must:
- Form a pan-Armenian mobilization around the agenda of preserving Armenian identity and national statehood.
- Rebuild and modernize the Armenian Army and the homeland’s security structures through national participation and in response to existing threats.
- Adopt a new security architecture and a self-confident foreign policy aimed at restoring Armenia’s diplomatic standing. This includes strengthening strategic relations with Russia on a mutually beneficial basis while ceasing the incitement of anti-Russian sentiments, forging a military-political alliance with Iran, and developing complementary relations with other global power centers and the West—without exclusively aligning with any one side.
- Foster a truly democratic society in Armenia, free from police-state tendencies and legal violations, prioritizing socio-economic development and protecting the rights of the lower and middle classes.
For Artsakh, we must:
- Ensure the collective settlement of displaced Artsakh Armenians within Armenia and prevent further emigration through effective social and legal policies.
- Continue pan-Armenian aid and programs to support Artsakh Armenians living in Armenia.
- Secure the continued operation of Artsakh’s elected government bodies, academic and cultural institutions, and the Armenian Apostolic Church in Artsakh.
- Advocate for the right of Artsakh Armenians to return with an interim status and international security guarantees.
For the Diaspora, we must:
- Rebuild Armenia-Diaspora relations and resist the Armenian government’s attempts to divide the Diaspora.
- Modernize and revitalize Diaspora institutions while ensuring their continued strength rather than dismantling them under the guise of “restructuring.”
- Develop serious repatriation programs at the state level with clear, practical initiatives.
- Protect the Armenian Cause’s global struggle, including defending Artsakh’s rights, continuing genocide recognition efforts, and preserving Armenian community rights worldwide.
Despite internal and external conspiracies, the struggle for the dignity and survival of the Armenian people must continue without compromise. The construction of a new, competitive, and high-quality national state based on justice, dignity, and equality must be declared a national strategic objective.
For us, independent statehood is an absolute value. The right of Armenians to live freely and create in their own homeland is an unshakable right. And the global Armenian nation, bound by a common cause and infused with the homeland, is an inseparable and indivisible collective.
The ARF is ready to cooperate with all those who share this vision and are prepared to fight for a dignified and secure Armenia and Artsakh.
Thank you.
Hagop Der Khachadourian
Yerevan, February 26, 2025
