The people of Artsakh paid the highest price so that the Republic of Armenia exists today. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Samvel Shahramanyan told this to reporters Friday at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the military aggression against Artsakh by Azerbaijan and the resultant forcible deportation of the Artsakh Armenians.

“As a result of the aggression, we [i.e. Artsakh Armenians] have been deprived of our homeland and forcibly displaced. The majority of our fellow compatriots have settled in Armenia, which we also consider our homeland,” Shahramanyan noted.

Commenting on the claims that “Artsakh was surrendered at the Yevlakh meetings [with Azerbaijanis],” the Artsakh president said that he did not attend those meetings and had never been to Yevlakh, Azerbaijan. He added that the participants in the meetings did not sign anything, and that the meetings were purely humanitarian in nature.

Reflecting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements that “we did not lose Nagorno-Karabakh, but found Armenia,” the president of Artsakh noted: “I can only add that the people of Artsakh paid the highest price so that the Republic of Armenia exists today.”

Regarding the matter of Artsakh Armenians’ return to Artsakh, Shahramanyan emphasized that this matter concerns not only the people of Artsakh, but is a pan-Armenian matter, and “we hope for a consensus, which currently does not exist.”

“The issue of Artsakh cannot be closed as long as the [Armenian] people of Artsakh are deprived of their homeland, the graves of their ancestors and holy places. We believe that sooner or later an appropriate assessment must be made," the Artsakh president concluded.