– Before the Great Patriotic War the population of Armenia was 1mln 320 000. 600 000 of them fought in combat fronts of GPW.
– In GPW years 106 Armenians were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
– 27 soldiers and sergeants are Cavaliers of Glory of three degrees.

In the days of Shoushi liberation there were no armaments, no food, 200 reservists were waiting for weapons of their perished friends to go to battlefield, says General Arkadiy Ter-Tadevosyan: «There was no Stepanakert any more, «Grad» was bombing each square meter. The city was dieing, and there was no difference for them – to die today or tomorrow? To take Shoushi – that was the task of life and death for the Artsakh people. My people, my commanders «forced» to take such a decision. I was subordinate to Defense Committee of Serge Sargsyan. I asked him – shall we take? He said – we take!»

The 1877-78 Russian-Turkish war inspired the Armenians. In the Armenian press the essay writers were expressing their assuredness that with the Russian weapon’s victory Western Armenia will be freed from the Turkish tyranny. However Armenian prominent writer Raffi did not share overall enthusiasm having no hope on the consequences of the war. He was sure that freedom is not given from the heaven, each nation should conquer it only with its own forces.

The structural faults of the Eastern army which made themselves felt especially in the battle of Tigranakert, where the Armenian numerous troops collided with the Roman army and its allies, were also typical to Tigran the Great’s army. The army was also formed on the ethnic principle which made it hard to rule. We must take into consideration that the armies of captured and vassal territories with their military leaders took part in military actions and it wasn’t always possible to coordinate their actions. After the battle of Tigranakert, Tigran the Great’s army underwent transformations. The number of the troops was reduced and the army was trained with the standards of the military art of the Roman army. It became efficient and easy to rule.

As RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan mentioned, liberation of Shoushi (1992.05.09) is such a military operation which “made our independence a reality” and “opened a new firmament of success of Artsakh armed forces”. In historical victory of Shoushi the Armenian intelligence agents have their inestimable role.
After the Soviet troops withdrawal from Artsakh the NKR leadership created the first regular sub-unit of intelligence agents in the self-defense forces – military intelligence company headed by Vitaliy Haroutyunyan. After some time a radio intelligence group was formed.

Our case is different. We haven’t waged war on Turkey. So it has been a nationally elaborated genocide policy, the results of which exist to this day: considerable part of our fatherland is expropriated, our material, spiritual, and cultural values are destroyed, our relatives are killed. Turkey denies the fact of the genocide, thus distorting the historical truth. And what is more, since the Armenian Independence, Turkey has put into practice pressure and blocade against us and refuses to establish diplomatic relations, concludes an alliance with Azerbaijan in the issue of Kharabagh antagonism. It wrecked the Armenian enterprise to improve celations without preliminary terms.

The moral consequences of the genocide are much clearer. Personally I am against private solutions, such as insurance sums received from foreign banks and so on. The financial problems connected with the genocide must be resolved in one package. In any case it’s not excluded that the international recognition of the genocide will give the Armenians the opportunity to address to the court and demand the property of their ancestors, including real estate. I want to mention that the Genocide museum displays one part of the Armenian as well as the Turkish history. And the citizens of Turkey, who don’t want to be deceived, must come and witness the closed pages of their history. I am sure that one day the Turkish will have the courage to encounter their past. I any case they don’t have another choice.