Arayik Harutyunyan Honors Fallen Freedom Fighters with Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasian

On May 9, the President of the Artsakh Republic, Arayik Harutyunyan, visited the memorial in Stepanakert alongside former presidents Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasian, as well as a number of senior officials, to pay tribute to the fallen freedom fighters who died for the homeland.

President Harutyunyan also sent a congratulatory message on the occasion of Victory Day, the founding of the Defense Army, and the liberation of Shushi. In his message, he stated: "Dear compatriots, today is a day of glorious victories for the Armenian people. We remember and bow our heads before the memory of all our holy martyrs, the heroes who forged the victories of the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh Liberation War, opening a new chapter in our nation’s millennia-old history. A history that has been filled with upheavals, harsh trials, and losses, as well as achievements and conquests.

Today, our people are once again living through difficult times, always fighting with the pain of losing our children and our homeland. It is this pain that gives us the strength to live and create, to continue our struggle with greater determination and to build a homeland worthy of our heroic ancestors and fathers, the immortal memory of our sons, the homeland we have all dreamed of.

Yes, we greet the May Triad with heavy hearts, as the consequences of the recent Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression have created a significant rupture with the holiday's essence. Nevertheless, we are determined to continue our just struggle for the secure, full, and dignified continuity of the Armenian people on our ancestral land, for the return of Shushi, and in honor of the holy memory of our martyrs. Eternal glory to our heroes. Glory to the Armenian people!"