Yerablur Memorial Pantheon honors memory of sons of Armenian people  on 10th anniversary of four-day April War of 2016

ArmInfo. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the four-day April War of 2016 around Artsakh, Armenian and Artsakh officials visited the Yerablur Military Pantheon and honored the memory of the sons of the Armenian people who gave their lives for the Motherland.

The fifth President of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan, and the Speaker  of the Artsakh Parliament, Ashot Danielyan, laid flowers at the  memorials in Yerablur in memory of those who died for the Motherland.   Speaking to journalists, Danielyan noted that today it is their duty  to remember those who fought heroically in those days and to continue  the work they left unfinished. "The Armenian authorities are  currently trying to erase from our memory all the victories we  achieved, which, I believe, was planned. At first, they told us,  'Artsakh is Armenia, period,' but today they call us 'fleeing.'  There's no point in commenting on their lies and manipulations. Our  people know what really happened," the Artsakh parliament speaker  noted.

In turn, Shahramanyan called on the Armenian public, the relatives of  the fallen soldiers, and personally those who contributed to the  battle for Artsakh, not to succumb to the provocations being carried  out by the Armenian authorities today. "The statements they make have  one goal: to divide the Armenian people and create an atmosphere of  intolerance within Armenian society. I don't want to return to such  topics today, but I will say one thing: I want to remind those who  spread false claims about 'fleeing Artsakh residents' that they were  the country's political and diplomatic leaders in 2020. It is because  of their actions that the Armenian people lost Artsakh, Armenian  territories are occupied, and Azerbaijan continues to make demands  that they are forced to comply with. The Armenian people must  evaluate this," stated the fifth president of the NKR.

In turn, Gegham Manukyan, a member of the Armenian parliament from  the opposition "Armenia" faction, noted that, unlike previous years,  they experience completely different feelings today when visiting the  Yerablur pantheon. According to him, in the current circumstances of  Armenia, there is a sense of both pride and betrayal. "On such a  memorable day, nothing is planned at the state level in Armenia  today.  Meanwhile, the martyrs of the four-day April War made their  sacrifice and wrote another heroic page in history by preventing  Azerbaijan's attempt at a large-scale occupation of Artsakh," the  opposition leader noted.

The most important message of the April War, he said, was the unity  demonstrated by the entire Armenian people-from the highest  leadership to the most ordinary citizen, including journalists. "From  the very first second, everyone felt it was their duty, and unlike  the 44-day war of 2020, everyone knew their place.  That's why we  achieved the results we achieved, and the enemy was forced to ask for  a ceasefire four days later," Manukyan emphasized.

Ten years ago, on the night of April 2, 2016, the Azerbaijani Armed  Forces committed large-scale military aggression against  Nagorno-Karabakh. The war was accompanied by war crimes, gross  violations of the laws and customs of war, and international  humanitarian law.

The April military actions were considered the largest since the May  1994 ceasefire agreement. During the fighting from April 2 to 5, all  Armenian military units, including artillery, tank crews, and  anti-tank units, performed exceptionally well. During intense  fighting, units of the Artsakh Defense Army destroyed two Azerbaijani  helicopters attacking Armenian positions, 26 tanks, as well as 14  drones, one BM-21 Grad rocket launcher, four infantry fighting  vehicles, and one engineering unit.

During the fighting on the line of contact, the Armenian side lost 64  servicemen, 13 volunteers, and four civilians, and over 120 were  wounded. Another nine servicemen were killed after the cessation of  active hostilities, prior to April 13, and several died later in  hospitals.

Based on State Department data presented in Vienna on May 16 that  same year, it is clear that in addition to the 81 Armenian  casualties, approximately 270 Azerbaijanis were killed. However,  analysts from the international research group Bellingcat estimated  Baku's losses at 400-500 soldiers killed.