September 2^nd marks the day that the Artsakh Republic declared its independence.

On September 2, 1991, the participants of the joint session of the regional council of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regional council of Shahumyan region, including deputies of councils of all levels, adopted a declaration on the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic that was in line with the legislative norms of the USSR, as well as with the right of a nation to self-determination enshrined in international legal documents.

Later, exercising its right to conduct an independent referendum and raise the question of the state and legal status enshrined in the legislation of the USSR, the Council of People’s Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic adopted a decision on conducting a referendum for independence of the Republic.

On December 10, 1991, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh enshrined the declaration of independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic through a referendum.

With this, two legally equal state entities (the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Republic of Azerbaijan) were formed within the territory of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan.

The situation was unexpected for Azerbaijan, and Baku undertook response operations three weeks later.

On September 25, 1991, for the first time, Azerbaijan bombarded Stepanakert from Shushi with Alazan missiles, and this led to the start of the Artsakh war.

Amid the war, Armenians combined their efforts and created the Armenian national army comprised of nearly 20-25,000 people.

The adversary failed to resist the decisive actions of the Armenian troops and pled for a ceasefire with the fear of suffering greater casualties.

On May 12, 1994, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement.