Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed a military parade in Yerevan marking Republic Day and declared that "peace has been established" after nearly 35 years of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Pashinyan's speech served as both a manifesto for a new Armenian military doctrine and an attempt to explain the kind of Armenia the authorities want to see after the Karabakh crisis.

The main theme of his speech was Armenia's "new army." Pashinyan stated that the authorities are completely changing their approach to the armed forces: now, according to him, the army should be used exclusively to defend the country's internationally recognized territory.

"The army's sole task is to defend the internationally recognized sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia," the prime minister declared.

Pashinyan emphasized that Armenia does not intend to use its army outside its territory, with the exception of international peacekeeping missions.

Pashinyan also linked the army's rearmament to agreements reached with Azerbaijan after 2022. According to him, international partners had long refused to supply weapons to Armenia, fearing that they could be used outside the country's internationally recognized borders. This changed after the Prague Accords of 2022, when Yerevan and Baku recognized each other's territorial integrity based on the Alma-Ata Declaration.

After this, Pashinyan stated, the international arms market "opened up for Armenia."

During the parade in Yerevan, equipment and weapons manufactured in approximately seven countries, as well as Armenian developments, were on display. Pashinyan reported that since 2022, the authorities have invested approximately 170 billion drams in the military-industrial complex.

A significant portion of the speech was devoted not so much to the army as to the new state ideology. Pashinyan spoke of the need to abandon the "complex of the state's temporariness" and embrace the logic of "eternal Armenia."

"The Republic of Armenia must exist forever," he declared at the end of his speech.

The Prime Minister also presented the army as a "factor of peace," not war. He stated that strong armed forces are needed to prevent the country from becoming a "temptation for aggression."

Pashinyan dedicated a separate section of his speech to the memory of fallen Armenian soldiers. He called the parade "a report to the citizens," but added that it also addressed the "fallen soldiers," thanks to whose sacrifices Armenia has become "more independent, more sovereign, and more secure." Afterward, the ceremony participants honored the memory of the fallen with a moment of silence and artillery salvos.

Pashinyan also listed social measures for the military: salary increases, payments to contract soldiers, and housing certificates for officers. He stated that the Armenian authorities are gradually transitioning from a conscript army to a professional one.

The military parade concluded with a troop march, a demonstration of new equipment, and demonstration flights by army aviation.