It was thirty-six years ago this day.

The government conference hall, opening from a small Yerevan alley called Melik-Adamyan, was full of delegates, townsfolk, and spirit -- convening and cresting in high anticipation.

They invited me up front to be closer to the Catholicos of All Armenians and to the leaders of the Movement.  I declined gratefully, finding instead my own seat through the rear right entrance and into the very back row.

We all were very different from each other, brought together nonetheless by a singularity of purpose, willpower, and responsibility.  The youthful Aram was there too, carrying out the solemn duty of giving modern meaning to the timeless heritage of the great Aram, founder of the original Republic.

From then and there emerged the Declaration on Independence, current-day Armenia's sole crystal-legitimate constitutional foundation -- indivisible, irreversible, and inalienable.

The Republic of Armenia, throughout all the eras, is one and the same, not subject to the random numberings of the day.

And no one can divide, overturn or alienate it, or us, from our Homeland and our rights.

Nobody and never.

Dignity shall return to the nation, integrity to the mother country and its territory, sovereignty to the state, and liberty to our statesmen, selfless soldiers, and all struggling fellow citizens -- in Baku, Yerevan, and everywhere.

We have work to do.  Together, or not at all.

Raffi K. Hovannisian
23 August 2026
Yerevan