Occupation of Shusha

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A restored Armenian T-72 tank stands as a memorial on a hill by the road that leads from Stepanakert to Shusha.

The occupation of Şuşa ( Azerbaijani Şuşanın işğalı ) is the conquest of the Azerbaijani city of Şuşa (German: Shusha ) in Nagorno-Karabakh by the Armenian armed forces on May 9, 1992. In Armenian historiography, this event is listed as the liberation of Shushi ( Armenian Շուշիի ազատագրումը Shushii asatagrumy ).

background

With the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which had been escalating for years, entered its warlike phase. In Soviet times Shusha was the only major Azerbaijani enclave within the majority of Armenian -populated autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh , in turn, to the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was one. Of the 17 thousand inhabitants the city had before the Armenian storm, 98 percent were Azerbaijani . The city's Armenian population had already been displaced earlier, in September 1988.

As early as the beginning of 1991, the city was surrounded by a few hundred defenders and was practically cut off from the outside world. At the time of the attack, Elbrus Orudschow was the military commander of Shusha on the Azerbaijani side. Since October 1991, Azerbaijani units have been attacking the lower-lying capital Stepanakert ( Xankndi in Azerbaijani ) from the city, which is 1,300 meters above sea level, and is only 5 to 7 kilometers to the north , using Grad missiles , among other things . Due to the continuous bombardment, Stepanakert's population had decreased from originally 70,000 to just 20,000 by May 1992. The capture of the city was therefore of crucial strategic importance for the Armenian side.

Attack and capture

The road leading to Shusha, where the meeting between Avscharyan's and Agarunov's tanks took place.

According to Ara Sahakjan, the former vice parliamentary speaker of Armenia , the Armenian Security Council has been toying for some time with the idea of ​​occupying Shusha in order to gain control of the Lachin Corridor and establish the direct land connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia received extensive military support from Russia . The attack plan for the conquest of the city was named "Wedding in the Mountains" and was drafted by General Arkadi Ter-Tadewosjan , who had previously participated in the Khojaly massacre . Later President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan also took part in the operation. A battalion of Chechen volunteers led by the Islamist terrorist Shamil Basayev helped the Azerbaijanis to defend the fortress city of Shusha, which was considered impregnable .

On the night of May 8, 1992, Armenian units stormed the city. The battle lasted a day and claimed up to 300 deaths. Among those killed was the tank commander Albert Agarunov , of Jewish descent , who was posthumously declared the national hero of Azerbaijan. The lack of organization of the defense, the lack of a unified army command and the political power struggles in Baku sealed the fate of Shusha. According to Azerbaijani eyewitnesses, the Armenian military also targeted civilian objects when shelling the city. After the occupation, the city was looted and set on fire.

Consequences and international reactions

The annexation of Shusha by Armenian separatists hit the then President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan at an inopportune time. Together with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jagub Mammadow, he was in Tehran . The aim was to hold talks on a joint communiqué that should have laid down the basic principles of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But when he left Tehran, Mammadov learned about the occupation of Shusha by the Armenians . Thus Iran's mediation efforts were doomed to failure. This created a diplomatic scandal and a serious cooling of relations between Yerevan and Tehran.

The fall of the strategically important fortress intensified the political turmoil in Baku. The parties began to exchange on allegations of mutual incompetence and treason. Azerbaijan Defense Minister Rahim Gasiev was accused of high treason and surrender of the city to the enemy and sentenced to death. This decision was later commuted to life imprisonment. In 2005 he was pardoned and set free. One of the devastating consequences for Azerbaijan was the occupation of the city of Laçın just 10 days after the loss of Shusha, which opened the first land route from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh and lifted the blockade.

At an extraordinary meeting of the Turkish government members , the Turkish Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel named the annexation of Shusha as another act of "Armenian terrorism" against Azerbaijanis. He stressed that Turkey could no longer remain in the role of an external observer. The voices grew louder that Ankara had to intervene militarily on the side of Azerbaijan. But the commander in chief of the CIS armed forces Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov warned against the intervention of a third party in the war, which could lead to unforeseeable consequences.

Literature and individual references

  1. ↑ Elchin Amirbayov: Shusha's Pivotal Role in a Nagorno-Karabagh Settlement. (PDF) Harvard University, Caspian Studies Program Policy Brief, No. 6, 2001, accessed January 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War . Ed .: New University Press. 2013, p. 47 (English).
  3. ↑ Rachel Denber / Robert K. Goldman: Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh . Ed .: Human Rights Watch. 1992, p. 34 (English).
  4. ↑ Татул Акопян: Карабахский дневник: зелёное и чёрное, или ни войны, ни мира . Антарес, Ереван 2010, ISBN 978-9939-51-170-2 (Russian).
  5. ↑ Drobizheva, Leokadia / Rose Gottemoeller / Catherine McArdle Kelleher: Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Soviet World: Case Studies and Analysis . ME Sharpe, New York 1998, ISBN 978-1-56324-741-5 (English).
  6. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. Ed .: New University Press. 2013, pp. 179-181 (English).
  7. ↑ Альберт Агарунов - национальный герой Азербайджана. April 4, 2018, accessed January 6, 2020 (Russian).
  8. ↑ Rachel Denber / Robert K. Goldman: Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh . Ed .: Human Rights Watch. 1992, p. 31 (English).
  9. ↑ Thomas de Waal: Black Garden. Armenia and Azerbaijan through peace and war. New York University Press, New York / London 2003, pp. 190-191 .
  10. ↑ Томас де Ваал: Глава 11. Август 1991 - май 1992 гг. Начало войны. In: Главы из русского издания книги "Черный сад". July 11, 2005, accessed January 6, 2020 (Russian).
  11. ↑ В Азербайджане помилованы политзаключенные. March 21, 2005, accessed January 6, 2020 (Russian).
  12. ↑ Демоян Гайк: Турция и Карабахский конфликт в конце XX - начале XXI веков. Историко-сравнительный анализ . Ереван 2006 (Russian).
  13. ^ Carey Goldberg: Moscow Sees War Threat if Outsiders Act in Karabakh. In: Los Angeles Times. May 21, 1992, accessed January 6, 2020 .