Sixty-six casualties of the aggression by Azerbaijan on September 19, 2023 are buried in the fraternal cemetery in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) capital Stepanakert and in the regions Artsakh. Artsakh 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.

Shahramanyan noted that after the deportation, the matter of these casualties’ reburial in Yerablur was raised, and preliminary consent was received from both Armenia’s authorities and representatives of Azerbaijan, but the process has not yet taken place. As well as the release of the Armenian captives and determining the fate of the missing, the Artsakh president added.

When asked whether Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had informed him that he does not intend to provide assistance in this regard, Shahramanyan replied that Pashinyan had not informed him about it, but they were in contact, mainly through the now former head of the National Security Service of Armenia, Armen Abazyan.

Commenting on reports from Azerbaijan about the alleged incident in Stepanakert involving Karen Avanesyan, an Armenian who still lives in Artsakh, Shahramanyan confirmed the existence of a person with that name. He remained in Stepanakert, along with several dozen Armenians.

“I cannot comment on the incident, as there is very little information. But if it happened, it means that they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] have caused him [to do that],” the Artsakh president concluded.