Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan issued the following statement today to mark the Allied victory in WWII. May 9 also marks the day in 1992 that Armenian forces captured the town of Shushi (Karabakh). Azerbaijani forces retook the town in the 2020 Karabakh war.

Dear people, dear compatriots,

I congratulate all of us on the 78th anniversary of the victory in World War II, the Great Patriotic War.

By winning the war, civilized humanity said No to one of the greatest evils, fascism. Here, the role of the Armenian people, whose more than half a million representatives in the Soviet Army, allied armies, guerrilla and resistance underground activities, made a significant contribution to saving humanity from fascism, is invaluable.

Many Armenians performed a feat in that struggle and gave their lives for the sake of human civilization. We had more than 300 thousand victims in the war. About 107 Armenians were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, many Armenians received high awards from the USSR and allied countries, ensuring the Armenian people's honorable place in the fight against fascism.

Dear people, dear compatriots,

In recent years, we celebrate May 9 with bitterness and anxiety. This is primarily related with the severe consequences of the 44-day war of 2020, with the loss of Shushi during the war, with the aggressive policy unfolding around Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia. The stormy international situation is exacerbating that situation even further, because the security systems in our region are deformed.

In this situation, our greatest obligation to the martyrs who gave their lives for the Motherland is the strengthening and reinforcing of our statehood, and the normalisation of our relations in our region should be part of this plan.

It is this approach that will guarantee the existence of the Armenian people in their homeland. It is the strong and developed Republic of Armenia that will become the token of honoring and glorifying all our martyrs.

Kudos to all the martyrs who gave their lives for the Motherland. Glory to all the tireless fighters who are doing everything possible and impossible to accomplish the state.