YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Celebrations dedicated to the Artsakh Independence Day kicked off in Stepanakert’s Revival Square on September 2, Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said on Facebook.

“Celebrations dedicated to the Republic’s day kicked off with the march from the Revival Square to the Stepanakert Memorial where the participants laid a wreath and paid a tribute to the memory of the heroes”, she said.

Today, September 2, 2019, marks the 28th 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. After this, Azerbaijan totally blockaded NKR and launched military aggressions.

The Artsakh Liberation War began when for the first time in September of 1991 Azerbaijan bombarded Stepanakert with Alazan rockets from Shushi. In 1994, at the request of Azerbaijan a trilateral (Azerbaijan, NKR, Armenia) ceasefire agreement was signed on May 12.

15 years after independence, in 2006, the people of Artsakh adopted the country’s Constitution through a referendum, again on September 2.

Celebrations are held annually on this day in Artsakh.

Exhibition of military equipment and armament will be held in Stepanakert’s Revival Square during which samples of new weapons of own production will be displayed.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan