The third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Thursday issued a message on the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic.

"The 2020 war unleashed against Artsakh and the November 9 capitulation document signed by the clandestine one-man decision of the person occupying the seat of the Prime Minister of Armenia to opened a new dangerous period for Artsakh and Armenia, the consequences of which we feel every day in Artsakh and the border settlements of Armenia.

I said years ago about the hard but victorious war of the 1990s, and I will repeat today: at that time we won a long, hard and unequal war.

Some say Azerbaijan had more money, weapons, ammunition, equipment and manpower.

That is true. But for me the war was unequal because the strong was fighting against the weak, and we were strong.

The libertarian was fighting against the invader, and we were the libertarian.

The righteous was fighting against the unrighteous, and we were the embodiment of righteousness.

And we won because we believed in our strength, defended our land and family with dignity, and we would have won again if our army had not been discredited (…) before the 44-day [Artsakh] war [last fall].

Thirty years ago, Artsakh made its historic decision, and its status is to live safely outside of Azerbaijan, to which, undoubtedly, the Armenians of Artsakh have the right.

The negotiations on the status [of Artsakh] should be aimed at internationally enshrining this simple right (…).

The [Artsakh] Independence enshrined in the Declaration shall become a creed and a condition for living and developing with dignity—for every Armenian," the message reads, in part.