The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
made a statement on the 32nd anniversary of the independence of Artsakh.
“32 years ago, on September 2, 1991, a joint session of the
Councils of People’s Deputies of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and the
Shahumyan region proclaimed the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh.
Beginning from the day of illegal subjugation of Nagorno
Karabakh to Azerbaijan on 5 July, 1921 and throughout its stay within the
Azerbaijan SSR, the policy of apartheid and discrimination intensified in
Nagorno Karabakh, an atmosphere of hatred and intolerance was created towards
the indigenous Armenian people, resulting in armed clashes, human losses and
mass deportation of the civilian population of Armenian villages.
To prevent the disastrous course of events, the people of
Nagorno Karabakh exercised its right enshrined in the USSR Constitution and
laws in force, specifically, the provision of the Law of the USSR Supreme
Soviet “On the secession of the Union Republics from the USSR” dated
April 3, 1990, according to which “the peoples of the autonomous republics
and autonomous formations retain the right to independently resolve the issue
of staying in the USSR or in the seceding union republic, as well as to raise
the issue of their state-legal status”.
The independence of Nagorno Karabakh was reaffirmed by the
results of the nationwide referendum held on December 10, 1991 and the
Declaration of Independence adopted on January 6, 1992 at the first session of
the NKR Supreme Council.
Thirty years later, Azerbaijan occupied a significant part
of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh as a result of a large-scale war it
had unleashed. Aiming to achieve the final de-Armenization of Artsakh, ignoring
the provisions of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020, the legally
binding decisions of the International Court of Justice and the ECHR, as well
as numerous calls by the international community, Azerbaijan has been keeping
the 120-thousand population of Artsakh under total siege for about 9 months
since December 2022, depriving it of all fundamental rights and freedoms,
creating unbearable living conditions and subjecting it to starvation.
Considering the above-mentioned facts, as well as the
constant threats against the people of Artsakh and calls for their reprisals by
the authorities of Azerbaijan, the international recognition of the Republic of
Artsakh can become one of the basic and important guarantees of preventing the
genocidal policy against the people of Artsakh.
Expressing our gratitude to all the Armenian sons, who
fought for the right to self-determination and freedom of the people of
Artsakh, and bowing to the memory of our heroes martyred in the three Artsakh
wars, we reiterate that Artsakh was and remains the core of the Pan-Armenian
unity, continuing the path it has chosen and fighting for our dignity.
We call upon all the international actors involved in the
Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement process to take immediate and
efficient steps to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and deportation of
its indigenous people from the homeland.
