Samvel Karapetyan issues his first public address, urging Armenian  people to unite and preserve Armenian identity

ArmInfo. Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the "Strong Armenia" party, issued his first major public address today since being placed under house arrest. Karapetyan called for national unity to "protect Armenian identity".

Samvel Karapetyan's supporters held a large rally first at Victory  Park near the Mother Armenia monument, and then headed to the party  leader's home. The procession was marked by chants of "Change!" and  "Samvel for Prime Minister!"

In his address, Karapetyan thanked his followers for their resilience  and predicted a decisive political victory within a month.  "I am  grateful that from day one, you have all stood by me and our party.   Together, we have a great deal of work to do. Together, we will free  our country from the 'bubble' inflated by Azerbaijani President Ilham  Aliyev. You are the great force that can do this for our homeland.  For eight years, Aliyev's 'governor' disgraced our country before the  entire world, for eight years he fed the Armenian people lies, and  only our strength can make him  kneel before the Armenian people. To  achieve this, we must unite our people, overcome fear, and very soon  we will do this together. We must defend our identity together. Don't  leave me alone in this fight. You have already shown today that we  can done this together," Karapetyan noted.

In turn, Narek Karapetyan, a board member of the Strong Armenia party  reiterated their party's goals. He noted that during their visits to  Armenia's regions, they observed a desire for change among the  people. He stated that while the current authorities use a "hammer"  to silence the people, the symbol of the new Armenia would be a  "shovel"—representing construction and creation.

"Thousands of people in our country are homeless; the forcibly  displaced residents of Artsakh and the Armenians affected by the  Spitak earthquake are still homeless. People say that all political  figures in Armenia are the same. Believe me, one day, when the  Armenian people reflect on this period, they will remember only the  good things, because we will meet all the expectations of our  compatriots. We have a lot of work to do; the country is in ruins; we  must start from the beginning. But we must work, build our country,  and achieve our goal," Narek Karapetyan said.

Recall, on May 8, Samvel Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia" bloc launched  its election campaign outside the Armenian parliament.