Dear fellow citizens!

Together we have faced many challenges. But the one that we are facing today is perhaps the most difficult of them all. There has been a disaster. People have died. And that is tremendously painful and tragic for each of us. But we must endure and overcome this together.

From the very beginning of this confrontation, I have called for dialogue, being categorically opposed to solutions involving force, particularly bloodshed. That is my guiding principle – that no power is worth shedding even a single drop of blood. This is the very principle that guided me in 2004, when I stopped my supporters from clashing with those of my opponent. That is why, even in today’s conflict, I was betting on dialogue. Because God gave people the ability to speak so that they could understand each other.