Artsakh marks Independence Day under siege

Blockade-hit Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) celebrates 32nd Independence Day on September 2.

On September 2, 1991, the people of Artsakh declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

Lawmakers from the Nagorno-Karabakh Provincial Council and the Shahumyan Regional Council convened a meeting on September 2, 1991 and declared the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with its border encompassing those of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, as Artsakh was known in the Soviet Union, and the Shahumyan region. The move was in line with the day’s laws, particularly an April 3, 1990 measure 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 percent, of the population voted in favor of complete independence from Azerbaijan. After this, Azerbaijan totally blockaded Karabakh 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.

On September 2, 2006, the people of Artsakh adopted the country’s Constitution through a referendum.

Artsakh's 120,000 indigenous Armenians have been living under Azerbaijan's unlawful blockade for over eight months now. Azerbaijan has blocked traffic on the Lachin Corridor, sole road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, since December last year.