Azerbaijan claims capture of key town
Azerbaijan declared a major breakthrough in its war with Armenia yesterday after claiming to have captured a key strategic town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azeri forces reported they had taken Shusha, a hilltop town in Nagorno-karabakh that used to be the main stronghold of ethnic Azeris in the region. Armenian forces denied that the city had been recaptured, saying that heavy fighting was still ongoing.
‘They will want to cut off the city and apply political pressure to have Armenian forces withdraw from Stepanakert’
‘They will hope to avoid streetto-street fighting, as it will mean potentially a lot of grisly videos surfacing on social media’
AZERBAIJAN declared a major breakthrough in its war with Armenia yesterday after claiming to have captured a key strategic town in the disputed region of Nagorno-karabakh.
Azeri forces reported that they had taken Shusha, a hilltop town deep inside Nagorno-karabakh that used to be the main stronghold of ethnic Azeris in the region.
It gives them a key vantage point from which to begin a bombardment and siege of the breakaway republic’s capital, Stepanakert, which lies nine miles away in the valley below.
Armenian forces denied that the city had been recaptured, saying that heavy fighting was ongoing. But Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, appeared on national television to proclaim that the city had fallen to his forces.
“With great pride and joy, I inform you that the town of Shusha has been liberated,” he said, in an address in which he appeared in military uniform. His speech prompted street celebrations in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, where flag-waving crowds gathered.
Although home to barely 5,000 people, Shusha has powerful symbolic value for both sides in the conflict.
For ethnic Azeris, it is regarded as the centre of its poetic and literary culture. For ethnic Armenians – who know the town as Shushi – its imposing Holy Saviour cathedral i s an important bastion of Christianity in NagornoKarabakh.
In the early Nineties, when Armenians in Nagorno-karabakh fought to secede from Azerbaijan, Shusha was used by Azeri forces to mount artillery bombardments on Stepanakert, sometimes firing 150 missiles a day. Armenian forces recaptured the town in 1992.
Last summer, Nagorno-karabakh’s government announced plans to move its national assembly from Stepanakert to Shusha – a move that infuriated Mr Aliyev, who described the town as an “ancient pearl of Azerbaijani culture”. Some even cite it as one reason for the start of the war six weeks ago, in which at least 1,000 people have died.
That Azerbaijani forces have even been able to reach Shusha underlines the upper hand they have had in the conflict. Shusha lies on the main road connecting Stepanakert to Armenia proper, potentially making it harder for Armenian forces in Nagorno-karabakh to resupply.
Dr Jack Watling, a research fellow in land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, said the Azeri military would now be able to focus on Stepanakert, potentially pressuring the Armenian forces into surrender.
“They will want to cut off the city and apply political pressure to have Armenian f orces withdraw f rom Stepanakert,” he said. “In order to do that, they will have to make it untenable for Armenian forces to remain there, by demonstrating they can bring overwhelming firepower.”
While Azeri forces have relied heavily on their superior air power and artillery, any attempt to retake Stepanakert – a city of 50,000 – could embroil their troops in fierce urban combat. That could be where Armenian forces, who know the territory better, would have the upper hand.
Dr Watling added: “They will hope to avoid street-to-street fighting, as it will mean potentially a lot of grisly videos surfacing on social media, which will upset the international community. But that doesn’t mean they won’t do it.”
The United Nations said last week that some indiscriminate attacks could amount to “war crimes”.