IT IS AN HONOUR for the Embassy of Armenia to join Canadians this Remembrance Day in commemorating the bravery of the Canadian war veterans and in thanking them for their service towards peace and prosperity of your nation.
Living in the modern reality of security and freedom, we sometimes tend to forget the price we have paid for it. History teaches us about its ultimate price, though, which sadly has remained unchanged since the dawn of civilization and beyond.
We, Armenians, remember war. A nation with ancient history, we have had more than our share of wars and bloodshed. The consequences of war, the terrible loss of life and destruction have been felt on our skins many times. Our homeland was a battlefield and a zone of mass bloodshed during World War I. In the ashes of this catastrophe our first modern republic was born, which itself succumbed to wars.
It is also hard to imagine that our small nation contributed about 600,000 soldiers in the fight against Nazism during World War II. Half of them did not return home.
Nowadays the Armed Forces of once again independent Armenia are evolving. As a nation, which has seen many hostilities, we are committed to peace not only in our region, but also around the world. Subsequently, it was no surprise that since 2004 we started to partake in international peacekeeping operations. Several Armenian platoons have since served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2014, Armenia also committed to the UNIFIL operation in Lebanon, where our military men are currently deployed in Shama.
All the members of the international community have suffered loss and tragedy due to unnecessary wars. It is now our responsibility to build a safer, peaceful world for our future generations.
