150 Bodies of Armenian Soldiers Retrieved from Surroundings of Shushi: Araik Harutyunyan

The President of Artsakh, Araik Harutyunyan, has made a statement on his Facebook page, urging all parties involved in Armenia's internal political processes to demonstrate wisdom.

"Dear compatriots, today is one of my most difficult days. Yes, although we have managed to save part of our Homeland and thousands of lives, we have suffered significant human and territorial losses, as once again evidenced by the bodies of around 150 Armenian soldiers retrieved from the surroundings of Shushi in recent days, each one representing a household and the light of our entire Homeland.

Hundreds of bodies are still on the battlefield, keeping their relatives and the entire nation in a state of uncertainty and pain. During these days, I have personally dedicated significant time to the relatives of the deceased and the missing, comforting their sorrow and jointly searching for our fallen brothers.

Alongside fulfilling this moral obligation, we have the task of rapidly enhancing the security guarantees of our Homeland and engaging in lengthy and arduous efforts for the vital task of post-war recovery of Artsakh and the Armenian people. Certainly, there are also other external and internal complex challenges, but among them, the serious threats to the internal stability and solidarity of the Mother Homeland concern me the most.

Considering the necessity of our national and state solidarity and unity during this gravely difficult period, as well as my obligation not to remain aloof from resolving pan-Armenian critical issues, I express my deep concern regarding the intolerance and violence-prone trends evident in the Republic of Armenia.

Thus, I strongly urge all forces and individuals involved in the internal political processes of the Republic of Armenia to exhibit high national and state sensitivity and wisdom and to keep the Homeland away from shocks that could become the grave of Armenian statehood in this situation.

I expect and demand that everyone resolve internal disagreements through civilized dialogue and exclusively constitutional means so that we can lead our Homeland down a path of stable and sustainable development.

In this context, I have decided to activate political consultations in Artsakh with all forces and figures to discuss both the post-war recovery of Artsakh and the reform of the state governance system, as well as the crucial issues of the pan-Armenian agenda. I hope that it will also be possible to create the same atmosphere of dialogue in the Republic of Armenia," he wrote.