Armenian PM highlights peace with Azerbaijan, military reforms at Republic Day parade

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan declared that Armenia is entering a “new historical era” marked by peace with Azerbaijan and the transformation of the country’s armed forces, speaking during the Republic Day military parade in Yerevan on May 28.

Addressing senior state officials, foreign diplomats, military leadership and citizens gathered in Republic Square, Pashinyan said the 2026 Republic Day is being celebrated “in completely new historical conditions,” emphasizing that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan after more than three decades of conflict.

According to the Prime Minister, the absence of peace was one of the main reasons the First Republic of Armenia lost its independence in 1920. He said the lessons of history have guided the current government’s policies and helped Armenia overcome the “complex of the temporary state.”

“We are adopting the agenda of the permanence of the state, guided by the logic that the Republic of Armenia must exist forever,” Pashinyan declared.

The Prime Minister said Armenia’s strategic priorities now include institutionalizing peace, strengthening the legal foundations of the state, ensuring citizens’ security and welfare, and transforming Armenia from a “deadlock of conflict” into a “Crossroads of Peace,” including through the implementation of the TRIPP project.

Pashinyan also presented what he called Armenia’s “new army,” featuring new weaponry, uniforms and ideology. He stressed that the sole mission of the Armenian Armed Forces is the defense of Armenia’s internationally recognized sovereign territory and that the army should not operate outside the country’s borders except within the framework of international peacekeeping missions.

The Prime Minister linked this shift in military doctrine to Armenia’s improved access to international arms markets. He stated that before 2022, many countries had refused to supply weapons to Armenia because of concerns that they could be used outside internationally recognized territories.

According to Pashinyan, the situation changed after the October 6, 2022 agreements reached in Prague, when Armenia and Azerbaijan mutually recognized each other’s territorial integrity based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.

He said military equipment from seven countries participated in the parade, describing the broad geography of Armenia’s military-technical cooperation as the result of policies based on the concept of the “Real Armenia.”

A significant part of the parade was dedicated to domestically produced military equipment and weaponry. Pashinyan said Armenia’s defense industry has received around 170 billion drams in government investments since 2022 and is now taking “confident first steps” toward establishing stable positions in international markets.

The Prime Minister also highlighted newly constructed fortified defense zones along Armenia’s borders, describing them as “21st-century fortress-castles” and “masterpieces of engineering thought.”

Pashinyan praised servicemen who passed voluntary certification programs and participants of the “Defender of the Fatherland” initiative, calling them important contributors to Armenia’s transition from a conscription-based system to a professional army.

The Prime Minister also outlined a series of social support measures for military personnel. He said some servicemen in the rank-and-file now receive salaries of up to 700,000 drams, while participants of the “Defender of the Fatherland” program will receive an additional five million drams after completing five-year contracts.

Cadets graduating from the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy will also receive government-issued housing certificates for apartments priced according to Yerevan market rates, he announced.

Pashinyan said the government has additionally adopted a decision to resolve housing issues for around 2,850 military families who have remained on Defense Ministry housing waiting lists since the early 2000s.

Describing the parade as a “report to citizens,” Pashinyan said the event demonstrated what the government has done in recent years to strengthen Armenia’s defense capabilities. He added that the report was also dedicated to Armenia’s fallen soldiers, whose sacrifices made it possible for Armenia to become “more of a state than ever before, more independent than ever before, more sovereign than ever before.”

“The Republic of Armenia must exist forever,” Pashinyan concluded.

“Glory to the martyrs, and long live the Republic of Armenia.”