Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the latest September attack by Azerbaijan’s fascist regime on Artsakh.At these exact hours in 2023, the capital Stepanakert was already under intense shelling from the Shushi heights, located just a few hundred meters away.
All other regions remaining under Artsakh’s control at that moment were also under fire, and the Azerbaijani army launched a full-scale offensive along the entire line of contact.
The last war for Artsakh lasted one day. The Defense Army, remaining after a 9-month blockade and standing on the brink of starvation, fought unequal battles for more than 24 hours, suffering heavy losses, and tried to do everything it could. Armenia provided no assistance to Artsakh, which was left one-on-one with Azerbaijan: while fierce battles were raging along the entire line of contact in Artsakh, Nikol Pashinyan stated that they would not interfere in the events in any way.
Through the mediation of Russian peacekeepers, who failed to prevent or stop the Azerbaijani offensive, a ceasefire was established. In the one-day war, the Defense Army suffered enormous losses—223 killed. The dissolution of the Defense Army began, and a few days later, having no guarantees of life and safety, the Armenian population of Artsakh was forced to leave the region. More than 100 thousand Armenians, leaving behind their homes and the graves of their relatives, many of whom they barely had time to bury, were forcibly displaced to Armenia.
During those chaotic days, another tragedy occurred: people were in a panic searching for fuel to take their families and leave as soon as possible, and under these conditions, an explosion occurred at a fuel depot near Stepanakert, killing another 218 people, while about two dozen are still considered missing.
Within a few days, the entire population of Artsakh was forced to leave their homeland and find refuge in Armenia, and for the first time in the last several thousand years, Artsakh was left without an Armenian population. A few months passed, and at the demand of Baku, the Russian peacekeepers were also withdrawn from there, some of whom the Azerbaijanis deliberately shot dead at the moment they approached one of the surrounded villages.
From that moment on, the Azerbaijani authorities have been consistently trying to destroy all Armenian heritage—either by destroying churches and cemeteries or by presenting historical monuments as Albanian; the latest manifestation of this was the words of Aliyev’s assistant a few days ago during a scandalous visit of foreign diplomats to occupied Artsakh.
Pashinyan and state officials are unlikely to visit the military pantheon, given that for a long time now, they do not visit the “Yerablur” military pantheon on days of remembrance and holidays, preferring to do so only on January 27–28.
P.S.
Today, September 19, 2026, on the initiative of parents and relatives of those killed in the Artsakh wars, a mourning march to the “Yerablur” military pantheon is being organized—in memory of the loss of the Homeland and as a sign of reverence for our martyrs. The unified silent march is a tribute to the Armenian sons who dedicated their lives to the safety and defense of the Homeland during all the years of the national liberation struggle of Artsakh—1988–2023.
“We will also honor the memory of the missing persons, our compatriots held in Baku, civilians who died as a result of the war and forced displacement, as well as the victims of the tragic explosion on September 25, 2023,” the initiative’s statement says.
