YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan congratulated the people of Artsakh on the occasion of the Independence Day.

“On this day in 1991 Artsakh declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Congratulations on this historic day, Free Artsakh”, the PM said on Facebook.

September 2, 2020, marks the 29th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Artsakh, formerly known as the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

On this day in 1991, a joint sitting of lawmakers from the Nagorno Karabakh provincial council and the Shahumyan regional council proclaimed the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) within the borders of the former NKAO and Shahumyan region. The move was in line with the then-active legislation, particularly the April 3, 1990 law which entitled national autonomies to determine their status on their own.

On December 10, 1991, a few days before the official collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno Karabakh held a referendum, where the overwhelming majority, 99,89%, of the population voted in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan