November 4, 2017

NJ, USA

[Mongolian followed by English] 

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters,

I am grateful to be here today on the 30^th anniversary of this even to represent the Southern Mongolian community to deliver my warm greetings to you all. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep respect to Sanj akh, Chuluu akh, Chenggelt akh and other members of the Chinggis Khan Memorial Foundations who have been working very hard to make this event possible.

Personally this is my 19^th year of attendance to this ceremony to honor our great ancestor Chinggis Khan who created the largest nation in human history and left a great legacy not only to us Mongolians but also to the entire world.

As the descendants of this great man, we Mongolians are blessed to share this ancient glory and are proud to be a member of this great nation. In this sense, today is the day for us to appreciate our glorious past and refresh our historical memory to remind ourselves of who we are.

As we all know, our great ancestors entrusted the great nation to us with a profound reminder of “Let our petty body be exhausted, but not our great nation be exhausted”.

Eight centuries ago, the Mongol Empire covered 33 million square kilometers, occupying 22% of the Earth’s land surface. However, eight centuries later today, only 1.5 million square kilometers of Mongolian territory is free from foreign occupation. Southern Mongolia, with the population of 6 million and territory of nearly 2 million square kilometers, is still under the Chinese colonial occupation; with a combined population of 1 million, our Buriat, Kalmyk and Tuvan brothers and sisters are still under the Russian yoke; with the population of at least 7-8 million, Hazara brothers and sisters are subjected to systematic persecution and massacres in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

As long as Southern Mongolia remains a Chinese colonial state, we can hardly say Mongolia is a free nation and Mongolia question is resolved; as long as Buriat, Kalmyk and Tuvan territories are included in the Russian map, we can hardly say Mongolia is free from foreign domination; as long as the three quarters of the historical territory and the three quarters of the national population of our Mongolian nation are under a form of foreign control, we can hardly say Mongolia question is resolved.

Therefore, today is not only the day for us to exchange our greetings, and showcase our arts and culture, but also the day for us to remind ourselves how much we have fulfilled the edict of our great ancestor to whom we all came to pay homage today. It is the day for us, especially the younger generations, to have the sense of responsibility to take up more active roles to serve the greater nation of Mongolia and live up to the true meaning of being descendants of the great ancestor.

Thank you!