The President of the Republic of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, has sent an open letter to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.
“To the President of the Russian Federation
Mr. Vladimir Putin
Esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich,
Artsakh-Russia relations have a history of centuries. In the historical memory of the people of Artsakh, Russia is perceived as a brotherly country that has always extended a helping hand to this segment of the Armenian people in all difficult situations.
Artsakh-Russia relations were realised in the most direct manner especially during the flourishing period of the Artsakh melikdoms and melik houses, of which there are numerous factual testimonies.
For more than a century (during the 19th century and the 1910s of the 20th century), Karabakh was within the composition of Tsarist Russia. That historical period was marked for Karabakh by prolonged peace, repatriation and economic development. Cultural life also developed. It is noteworthy that from the second half of the 19th century, Shushi, the administrative-political centre of Artsakh, had become one of the important spiritual, cultural and economic centres of Transcaucasia.
During the same historical period, a whole constellation of Artsakh Armenians played a leading role in the military-political and social life of the Russian Empire — Valerian Madatov, Hovhannes Lazarev, Lazar Serebryakov, Mikhail Loris-Melikov, Vasili Bebutov and others.
These relations also continued during the Soviet period. During the Great Patriotic War, about 90,000 Armenian sons from the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and historical Artsakh participated in the Great Patriotic War, half of whom sacrificed their lives in the cause of defending the homeland. Per capita, in terms of the number of Heroes of the Soviet Union and holders of the military Order of Glory, Artsakh occupied one of the leading places in the USSR.
The five marshals of Armenian origin of the USSR had their roots in Artsakh — Hovhannes Bagramyan, Ivan Isakov, Hamazasp Babajanyan, Armenak Khanperyants (Sergei Khudyakov), Sergei Aganov. More than 30 generals and thousands of officers shone with their military talent.
With roots from Artsakh were Anastas and Artem Mikoyan, Ivan Tevosyan, Andranik Iosifyan, Nikolay Yenikolopov, Mikhail Tariverdiev and many other distinguished figures.
The close Artsakh-Russia relations continue to this day. A respectable part of the approximately 3 million Armenians living in Russia are from Artsakh, among whom there are many who were forcibly displaced from Artsakh as a result of the genocidal and ethnic cleansing policies of Azerbaijan in the late 1980s and 1990s.
I would like to particularly emphasise that at all stages of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the Russian Federation has implemented its practice in favour of the principle of non-use of force or threat of force, as defined by international law, and the peaceful settlement of conflicts. In the process of settling the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, the Russian Federation acts both in the format of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group and with a separate role. The Republic of Artsakh highly appreciates Russia’s mediation efforts, active role and decisive mission at all stages of the settlement of the conflict, especially in achieving the 1994 trilateral ceasefire agreement. The Russian Federation also played a decisive role in the next phase of the escalation of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict — on 5 April 2016, through Russia’s mediation, an agreement was reached in Moscow on ceasing military operations and restoring the ceasefire, in accordance with the 1994 agreement on the establishment of the ceasefire.
We highly appreciate the active diplomatic efforts of the Russian Federation and of you personally, aimed at stopping the attack and large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. I also want to inform you that the objective assessments about the created situation, voiced during your speech at the Valdai Club, have received a great response in the Republic of Artsakh and among the entire Armenian people.
You stated in your speech: “This conflict began not as an inter-state conflict and a struggle for territories, it began from ethnic confrontation. Unfortunately, this is a fact: cruel crimes were committed against the Armenian people in Sumgait, and then in Nagorno-Karabakh. And all this we must take into account in the aggregate.” Unfortunately, Azerbaijan continues this genocidal policy to this day.
Esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich,
You are the personality and the head of state who has enormous authority in the world and in our region. Taking all this into account, we ask you to exert every possible effort towards stopping the war in the zone of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and resuming political processes.
With deep respect,
President of the Republic of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan.”
