ArmInfo.The Armenian authorities were well aware of what was happening in Artsakh last September and the signing of the document on the abolition of the NKR. This was stated by the acting speaker of the Artsakh parliament Gagik Bagunts in a conversation with journalists on September 19 at the Yerablur military pantheon.
When asked why the people of Artsakh left their homeland last September and did not stay, Bagunts pointed to the atmosphere of hostility emanating from Azerbaijan and the unwillingness to negotiate.
"Azerbaijan was many times stronger than Artsakh, and it tried in every possible way to bring to an end the aggression that it initiated back in the fall of 2020," he noted.
At the same time, the parliamentarian added that what happened in Artsakh is a continuation of the Armenian Genocide that took place a hundred years ago.
"The document signed on the dissolution of Artsakh has no legal force, and its signing was a necessary step to save 120 thousand Artsakh residents," he said.
Bagunts drew attention to the fact that the dearmenization of Artsakh did not occur because of this document, but because of the aggressive, genocidal actions of Azerbaijan. "This is something that needs to be clearly understood," he noted, adding that all state structures of Artsakh continue to function normally and assist the people of Artsakh.
The Artsakh parliamentarian believes that the tragedy that happened a year ago in Artsakh did not serve as a lesson for the Armenian people.
Exactly one year ago, on September 19, 2023, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, after an almost ten-month total blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, initiated aggression against the Republic, fighting for its right to self-determination.
Amid the inaction of the entire international community, left alone with an enemy tens of times larger in numbers, Artsakh fell on September 20.
As a result of the enemy aggression, hundreds of Artsakh residents were injured, and more than 200 people were reported killed, including civilians.
Azerbaijan began the violent subjugation of the NKR. In addition, on September 20, late in the evening, it became known that Azerbaijan deliberately fired at two vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, killing 6 people, including the deputy commander of the RMK. On September 22, the process of abolishing the Artsakh Defense Army began. During search operations from September 21 to 24, the NKR Ministry of Internal Affairs found the bodies of 105 Artsakh residents, including brutally murdered children and old people. Artsakh was completely de-Armenianized, its entire indigenous population of over 120 thousand people was forced to flee to Armenia under the threat of physical violence.
During the mass exodus, on September 25, an explosion occurred at a fuel depot near Stepanakert, a tank of gasoline exploded. At the time of the explosion, there were a large number of people at the scene who were standing in line for gasoline to leave Artsakh amid the latest Azerbaijani aggression. According to the Investigative Committee of Armenia, 218 people were killed in the explosion at the fuel depot, 215 of whom have been identified. At least 120 people received injuries of varying severity, mainly burns. At the moment, according to the investigation, the whereabouts of 21 people are unknown. Since the enemy aggression that began in the fall of 2020, which in September 2023 ended with the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh residents have become homeless.