Tens of Thousands of Artsakh residents on Sunday—Christmas Day—showed their collective commitment to their nation and rose up at a public rally to demand an end to the two-week-long Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh.
It was at the very site of the February, 1988 demonstrations that sparked Artsakh Liberation Movement that the citizens of Artsakh, almost 35 years later, raised one fist in demanding justice and their right to self-determination.
Artsakh’s political leaders, who announced the rally on Saturday, were determined that through the Artsakh people’s collective resilience their voices will be heard. They also were defiant as they addressed the large crowd, which was there to demand an end to the 14-day blockade by Azerbaijan, which has created a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food and basic good exacerbating an already fragile situation.
They reiterated their calls to the international community to take decisive action in the face of a continuing and blatant attempt at choking the 120,000 residents of Artsakh and warned of a new ethnic cleansing attempt by Baku.
Artsakh’s State Minister the Russian-Armenian business mogul Ruben Vardanyan, who on September 2 reneged his Russian citizenship and relocated to Artsakh said the local population is left with three options: to submit and sooner or later become part of Azerbaijan, to leave Artsakh, or to FIGHT.
“I made my decision on September 2,” he said. “I’m here, I’m fighting and I’m not going to leave or obey Azerbaijan’s conditions.”
“We must oppose, counter them with our collective strength,” added Vardanyan.
A statement expressing the people of Artsakh was read at the rally. The collective will of the people to resist and fight for their nation was the message emanating from Stepanakert directed to the entire Armenian Nation.
The uninterrupted traffic through the road between Artsakh and Armenia cannot be a subject of any negotiations and bargaining. Access connecting Artsakh to the outside world should be restored without preconditions and immediately, and conditions should be created to ensure its further uninterrupted operation,” the people of Artsakh said.
“The ethnic cleansing and discriminatory policy implemented by Azerbaijan against the Armenian people, which gained new momentum in 2020, and its disastrous consequences, only aims to depopulate Artsakh form by continuing the 1915 events—the Genocide carried out by Turkey in Western Armenia,” added the people’s statement.
“Today, when the very existence of the Artsakh Republic—the dream of all Armenians—is being threatened, we bow before the memory of the Armenians who sacrificed their lives on the path of our liberation struggle, renew our commitment to continue the work of our sacred martyrs and restore our dignity,” added the statement.
The people of Artsakh’s resounding belief is that Armenia has a significant role to play is assisting and supporting Artsakh as “Artsakh has been a symbol of Armenian identity and dignity.”
