Azerbaijan wouldn’t have been able to seize Shahumyan and Getashen in 1992 without Soviet army’s support, chairman of Shahumyan-Getashen expatriates' union said.

Edik Balayan explained support to Azerbaijan by Soviet and later Russian leadership by anti-Russian policy Armenian authorities pursued then.

He further noted that refugees from Shahumyan and Getashen “carried with them the hope to witness the liberation of their birthplace one day.”

Mr. Balayan stressed the need to raise the issue of liberation of Northern Artsakh territories, noting “refugees’ readiness to go back, in case of no new deportation.”