Artsakh Movement marks 38th anniversary

Thirty-eight years ago, on these very days, thousands of Armenians gathered in the main squares of Stepanakert and Yerevan. They had one demand: reunification with Armenia.

Since February 1988, the primary forms of public dissent and protest were peaceful rallies, demonstrations, marches, and hunger strikes—held under various slogans, but without violence or clashes with police.

Azerbaijan initially sought to suppress the peaceful gatherings through massacres and later through military action.

The outcome of the movement that began 38 years ago was the independence of the Republic of Artsakh—an independence that has since been lost.