The all-nation rally in Stepanakert started with the Lord's prayer. The leader of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church called on Artsakh residents living far from their homeland to return from Renaissance Square.
Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan (Primate of Artsakh Diocese of AAC) - I ask and urge: return to Artsakh and stand up, stand up for this sacred relic entrusted to you. If we had at least half a million Armenians in Artsakh before the war, we would have a completely different picture during the 2020 war, and maybe there would be no war. Parallel to all this, we send our bowing and prayer to God for the memory of our heroic martyrs, we bring our gratitude and blessing to all those Artsakh citizens who, after so many difficulties, stick to their roots and native land.
Artsakh has been under siege for 14 days. The way of life connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the world was blocked by Azerbaijani fake environmentalists. Armen Asryan, who lost a parent and a son in the struggle for survival in Artsakh, reminds them of Baku and Sumgait oil wells far from environmental standards.
Armen Asryan (Chairman of the Union for Relatives of the Killed and Missing in the Third Artsakh War) - Go deal with the ecology of your dirty oil fields, go and fight for the cleanliness of the stinking air of your Baku and Sumgait. You want to say, can you do it? You can't, you don't have that freedom of voice in your totalitarian country, you are voiceless there. Now you come here making monkeys.
If there is the spirit of 1988, the people of Artsakh can once again overcome unspeakable difficulties, as in the 90s, the Chairman of the Union for Relatives of the Killed and Missing in the Third Artsakh War is convinced. As long as there are no gaps between the people and the government.
Armen Asryan - The people should be sure that issues will not be resolved behind their back, all political forces, NGOs and public figures should put aside all personal, political disagreements and ambitions, and unite around one idea.
The path to success is unity, Andranik Chavushyan, mayor of the Aghavno community, who relocated in Artsakh years ago, is convinced.
Andranik Chavushyan (Mayor, Aghavno community ) - Our destiny is one, our salvation is in our unity, and we will win together, we will not give in together, we will develop together.
According to Ruben Vardanyan, State Minister of Artsakh, the 14-day siege is another stage of Artsakh's liberation struggle, but people are not complaining, but want to overcome it and give a safe country to the next generation.
Ruben Vardanyan (State Minister of Artsakh) - This blockade is not 14 days, this struggle has been going on for 35 years. It continues and we must do everything so that the next generation can see that in this struggle we have overcome the difficulties and gained what we have sacrificed thousands for. Believe me, every day from 7 am to 2 am we are working to do something to overcome these difficulties, believe us we understand your difficulties.
The name of Artsakh has been voiced in international platforms: the United Nations, the ECHR and elsewhere, in recent weeks more than in the previous 20 years. Vardanyan thanks all those who are by Artsakh's side in this difficult period.
Ruben Vardanyan - I want to thank the people in different countries, starting with Armenia, and in Russia and France and America, who really support us in every way.
The people of Artsakh call on the international community to curb Azerbaijan's expansionist ambitions. Teacher Sona Adamyan from Martakert reminded that to do nothing is to support the depopulation of Artsakh.
Sona Adamyan (Teacher) - Who needs your powerful award-winning movies, where good triumphs over evil? Today in one part of the world you are indifferent to the struggle of the vital importance of a people, you are silent, you don't see, you don't hear, you don't react.
In the conditions of a humanitarian disaster, the call of Artsakh Armenians to the world was heard from Stepanakert in different languages. At the end, the multi-thousand-strong rally sent a message that the national issue can be solved by pan-Armenian unity.
The clear call-message of the Artsakh Armenians is that the uninterrupted operation of the road between Artsakh and Armenia cannot be a subject of negotiations and bargaining.
Story by: Narek Sahakyan, Stepanakert, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh)
