Yerevan /Mediamax/. Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan said today that "if not the Karabakh movement, we would have lost not only Artsakh, but also Armenia.”

“The preservation of Artsakh and the feeling of victory in the first Artsakh war gave us great strength and confidence, because we made this victory, which seemed impossible to many, possible. Thanks to the movement, we realized that we can prevent the disaster of losing our homeland through struggle.

The people of Artsakh continue to fight for the right to live a free, independent, dignified life, to avoid the threat of ethnic cleansing and deportation from the homeland hanging over our heads. In response, we received wars, loss of people’s life and difficult trials from neighboring Azerbaijan, which continue in the form of today’s blockade and the difficulties caused to us,” Ruben Vardanyan said in his message on the occasion of Artsakh Revival Day and the 35th anniversary of the Karabakh movement.

He noted that despite all the trials, the will to keep Artsakh Armenian remains unbreakable.

“All those who discuss and try to decide the fate of Artsakh without us do not understand that we took our fate into our own hands 35 years ago on this day. We paid a very high price for that decision.

Even if it takes another 35 years to reach our goal, it should not stop us, disappoint us, or take us away from our goal. We have enough will and persistence to achieve our goal and no one can take that away from us,” Ruben Vardanyan said.