Lydia Margossian
Prime Minister of the Government of Western Armenia and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Western Armenia
May 24, 2025
First of all, I would like to congratulate the Parliament of Western Armenia on its 13th anniversary and extend my congratulations to Mrs. Harutyunyan, Speaker of the National Assembly, as well as to all the deputies.
The establishment of our Parliament was an important step for our nation, and this is true for any society that wishes to live in justice and freedom.
Moreover, a state like ours, whose territory is occupied, does not legally cease to exist if three elements are preserved: population, representation, and the continuous expression of sovereign will.
In this sense, the Parliament of Western Armenia is not simply a gathering of people, and understanding why we have a Parliament already means beginning to defend it.
Modern history demonstrates that a state does not necessarily disappear with the loss of territory, military occupation, or even the mass destruction of its population.
The case of Western Armenia profoundly illustrates this issue.
In this regard, our institutions become the primary means of our national survival.
Our institutions perform several vital functions:
• preserving the legal and historical memory of our state,
• maintaining the political representation of our dispersed people,
• transmitting legitimacy between generations,
• serving as partners in international relations,
• preventing the complete erasure of our national claims.
When a people are displaced or partially destroyed, as was the case with the Armenians of Western Armenia, institutions become structures of cultural and identity-based resistance.
Without them, the physical destruction of a people may turn into historical disappearance.
It must be recalled that the genocide committed against Armenians was directed not only against individuals, but also against the structures that ensured collective continuity — against political, religious, educational, and cultural elites.
Schools, churches, and monasteries were also massively destroyed or confiscated.
The Armenian national response and reconstruction were largely carried out through the work of the National Delegation led by Boghos Nubar, which resulted in the recognition of the Armenian state in 1920, of which Western Armenia is the continuing state.
Therefore, institutional continuity also has a legal dimension, based on Woodrow Wilson’s Arbitral Award.
And it is precisely within this legal framework that Western Armenia operates through its participation in international structures and through proceedings submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, encompassing the entire legal package of the nation.
Thus, our institutions constitute the foundation of state and collective continuity.
They preserve our memory, ensure our representation, transmit legitimacy, and prevent historical erasure.
Our institutions allow our dispersed nation to maintain a unified political, historical, legal, and cultural consciousness despite exile and fragmentation.
Our institutions are not merely administrative bodies.
In the face of historical catastrophes, they become the very guardians of collective existence.
Thank you.