12:48, 8 May, 2020
YEREVAN, MAY 8, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian visited today the Yerablur Military Pantheon on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Shushi, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.
President Sarkissian laid flowers at the tombs of National Hero of Armenia, Hero of Artsakh, first defense minister of Armenia Vazgen Sargsyan, National Heroes of Armenia Monte Melkonyan, Jivan Abrahamyan, Commander Andranik, as well as the memorial wall dedicated to those Armenians fallen for the freedom and independence of the Homeland.
President Sarkissian paid a tribute to the memory of the fallen heroes with a moment of silence.
“Today I visited the heroes of our liberation fight. Symbolism is very deep: how did it happen that 28 years ago on the same day our people made an important victory, one of the most important victories of the liberation fight by liberating Shushi. If we compare the liberation of Shushi with the Second World War, it was the same as the battles in Stalingrad and Kursk. They just broke the logic of war and opened a path to victory”, the President told reporters.
Talking about the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, the President remembered that 300,000 Armenians were killed for the sake of that victory. “Unfortunately, today, these 300,000 Armenians do not have a tomb in Armenia, but their memory is with us. 300,000 out of the 600,000 Armenians, who were fighting, have been killed. Our people gave more than 100 heroes of the Soviet Union, five marshals…And this was not proportionate: a small nation, five marshals, more than sixty generals”, Armen Sarkissian said. “Surely, it was impossible to defeat that people because that people were one of the leaders in the anti-fascism fight, and surely it was also impossible to defeat that people in the liberation battle”.
The names of none of these 300,000 Armenians, fallen 75 years ago, will be forgotten. During the whole period of the liberation fight, and especially today, both the organizers of the Shushi liberation, the fallen heroes and those who live today, no matter where they are, what position they hold, what they do, whether are with their families or went to Shushi, they all are heroes. Such heroism doesn’t grow old, it’s endless. We are truly a victorious people both in the Second World War and the liberation fight”.
Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan