MAY 9 CELEBRATED IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH

DeFacto Agency
May 12 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 12.05.08. DE FACTO. May 9 the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
and the Republic of Armenia celebrated a triple holiday – the Day
of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Shoushi’s Liberation Day and
the Day of the NKR Defense Army. Solemn measures were held on the
occasion in both states.

In the morning of March 9 the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic leadership
headed by the NKR President Bako Sahakian, the delegation of the
Republic of Armenia headed by the RA President Serge Sargsian visited
the Stepanakert Memorial Complex and honored the memory of warriors
fallen in the Great Patriotic and Karabakh wars.

The representatives of commanding officers of the NKR Defense Army,
Archbishop Pargev Martirosian, the leader of the Artsakh Eparchy
of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the NKR second President Arkady
Ghoukassian, the representatives of NGOs and the Republic’s ordinary
citizens also came to pay homage to the memory of the fallen warriors.

"May 9 is a very important, crucial page in our history. We bend
our heads before those who did not spare their lives for our dream
to come true. A strong and independent state is the best evidence
of maintaining their memory", the NKR President Bako Sahakian
stated. "Shoushi is the cradle of Armenian nation’s spiritual
nourishment, and we must do our best for the revival of Shoushi,
for restoration of its glory", the state’s President underscored.