“The April 2020 war unleashed by the Republic of Azerbaijan and with the involvement of Turkey and other terrorist forces revealed the undisguised and far-reaching insidious intentions of having Artsakh without Armenians. And after all that, Baku's efforts to include Artsakh in Azerbaijan do not fit into any common sense," " referring to the future of the Republic of Artsakh, the existing challenges and their possible solutions, said Artur Tovmasyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, in an interview with "Iravunk" newspaper.

First of all, the war lasted not 44 days, but 45 days. After the agreement of November 9, 2020 the enemy was using forces in the direction of Martuni for about 12 hours using various types of weapons, including air force, drones, with the aim of capturing the cities of Martuni and Chartar, making progress in the direction of Krasny Bazar. To say that two years passed quickly is not true, because after the end of the war, many new challenges appeared, both in front of the Artsakh Government and legislature. Remember November 2020 when I realized that none of the draft laws corresponded to reality. I remember the month of November 2020, when I looked and saw that none of the draft laws corresponded to reality. And to the honor of the deputies of all our factions, we understood that for the first time we have to break the NA regulation-law, where it is envisaged to hold a plenary sitting at least once a month. And we started developing new laws, which correspond to the created situation. We all understood that we have no moral right to deviate even by a centimeter from the status of Artsakh, we have the right to live in Artsakh.

We must implement the decisions of September 2, 1991, the referendum on independence from December 10, 1991, and the Declaration of Independence from January 6, 1992. I remind you that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem first arose as a dispute in 1918 due to the need for territorial demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which became independent after the collapse of the Russian Empire. Even the League of Nations recognized the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Red Army after the occupation of the territory of Armenia Karabakh was divided and transferred to Azerbaijan. Even the Karabakh issue was taken off the agenda of the Paris Peace Conference, where the final decision on the political status of Nagorno-Karabakh was planned.  Annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh was directly carried out within the framework of the Bolshevik plans for the intermediate evacuation of the Red Revolution to the Muslim East.

Throughout the entire period of Nagorno-Karabakh being part of Soviet Azerbaijan, the official authorities of Baku consistently violated the fundamental rights of the Karabakh Armenians taking place as part of nationally motivated murders, disappearances, torture and repression, punishment for dissent, as well as attempts to alienate historical and cultural centers. However, the population has always resisted and sought to preserve its identity. In order to avoid the fate of the Armenians of the Nakhichevan ASSR, the Karabakh issue was raised several times before the central bodies of the USSR, but they were all suppressed.

Of course, the Artsakh Armenians could not come to terms with all this. The only way out and guarantee of preserving their national identity and preventing further ethnic cleansing was to unite with the Motherland. And it wasn't a coincidence that peaceful rallies, demonstrations and processions of Artsakh Armenians became the first swallows of democracy in the Soviet Union, in the world news.

Summarizing the logic of all emphasis, let's note that the declaration of independence of Artsakh is incomplete militarily and politically. We must correct the Declaration of Independence with our lives and ways of life and let's give up the delusion of considering it finished.

The people of Artsakh and all Armenians must turn every day a new page in the life-assertion of the Declaration of Independence. The main lesson of 31 years of independent statehood is the integration of the human and material resources of the Artsakh-Armenia-Diaspora trinity under the prism of new realities.

Today I want to address all Armenians, urging you not to despair and be armed with patience. We are forced to take responsibility for the Motherland, given to us by God's will and fate, heal the wounds and move forward, because we are responsible for the generations and thousands of our children who did not spare their lives for the Motherland.

God bless Artsakh, the dream of all Armenians, built with the blood of our heroes.