Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Arayik Harutyunyan on Tuesday issued a message on the occasion of Victory Day as well as the 31st anniversaries of the Artsakh Defense Army and the liberation of Shushi. The message reads as follows, in particular:

"May 9 is one of the most glorious and praiseworthy pages in the history of the Armenian people. Together with other peoples, the victory of our grandparents in the Great Patriotic War, the formation of the Artsakh Defense Army, the liberation of Shushi are the undeniable victories that have rightly made that day a symbol of national pride.

""Today, Artsakh has again ended up in the focus of existential struggle. The Azerbaijani authorities’ blockade continuing for five months already aims to break the will and the spirit of the struggle of our people through psychological and physical pressure, force under a security threat to leave the land of our forebears with a thousands of history or to become a subject [of Azerbaijan].

"Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem aspirations are not new to us. We know it well, as well as we know the strength and power of the unity of the Armenian people well, which has been manifested in the most decisive periods of our history.

"Today, the national unity has become imperative again today. We do not have the right to hesitate or aggrieve. The road is one: Artsakh has been, is and shall be Armenian, with the right and determination of its own people and to manage their own destiny. The efforts of all of us must serve this goal—in Artsakh, Armenia and the Diaspora—, we must again regain and cherish the meaning and spirit of the victorious Three Celebration as a guideline of our lives.

"May God guard our homeland and the people."