VIDEO. I Don’t Understand Why They Try to Convince That Being National is Backwardness: Robert Kocharyan

We have much greater grounds for a sense of national identity than Americans do, said Armenia's second president Robert Kocharyan.

“The United States is a country of immigrants, and they have managed to create this so-called 'American Dream' using the powerful tool of Hollywood. We naturally have these values; we truly have them. We just need to be able to classify them through education or other means. We must inspire them in our society so that at least they will not abandon them. I don’t understand why they try to convince that being national is backwardness or regression. On the contrary. We can provide clear formulations of national identity, and we will need people like you for that process. For the realization of these ideas and bringing them to fruition, the state needs to expend both intellectual and financial resources. Our greatest value is the individual. Everything revolves around the person, but we also want that person to say, 'I am Armenian,' and beneath that statement, we need to understand certain characteristics,” said Kocharyan.