Today Shushi is not with us: We mourn its captivity, but we also realize that we must celebrate its liberation day. - Nikol Pashinyan

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered a message on the occasion of the Victory Day, the liberation of Shushi, and the establishment of the Artsakh Defense Army.

“Dear compatriots, I congratulate you on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is a great holiday of which we are justifiably proud. We have always celebrated it and will continue to celebrate it because the Armenian people made a tremendous contribution to the fight against the 20th century's calamity—fascism, suffering enormous losses in that struggle.

More than 500,000 Armenians participated in that devastating war in the armies of the Soviet Union and Allied States, and in the ranks of the resistance movement, with 300,000 having died for victory, and 107 having been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. All of this allows us to assert that the Armenian people, alongside other peoples of the Soviet Union, played a decisive role in achieving victory. We made our significant contribution to saving Europe and the entire human civilization from the devastating war and liberating it from the claws of fascism.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, our military gained high professionalism, reaching unprecedented heights in the field of military art. Thousands of Armenians became officers in the Soviet Army during and in the years following the war, with many reaching the highest peaks of military service. We take pride in them and will always keep their memory alive.

This military core later formed the backbone of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh. It was this military that, along with the heroic spirit of contemporary volunteers—our modern-day partisans—liberated Shushi. It was this military, together with the steadfast will and determination of the Armenian people, that decided the outcome of the struggle for Artsakh's freedom.

Unfortunately, today Shushi is not with us. We mourn its captivity, but we also realize that regardless of the twists of fate and current realities, we must celebrate its liberation day. It is one of the glorious pages of our recent history and has had crucial significance for our people. The liberated Shushi served as a bastion for ensuring the security of Artsakh. Furthermore, it created the necessary preconditions for the state-building of Artsakh and made irreversible the struggle for the right to self-determination of the Artsakh Armenians.

Today we remember all those who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of this ancient Armenian city. Today we bow before all our martyrs who fell in the wars unleashed against our people in the defense of Artsakh. Eternal glory to them.

Our pain is profound, our wounds are unhealable. However, we also know that their sacrifices were not in vain; they fell for the defense of their homeland, they sacrificed themselves for freedom. We must keep their memory eternally alive and continue their work. We would betray them if we did not engage today in the strengthening and flourishing of our homeland. We would betray their memory if we did not build a strong state that would ensure the renaissance of Artsakh,” the message stated.