Azerbaijan says it has captured the pivotal town of Shusha
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said yesterday his country’s forces had taken Shusha, the second-largest town in the Nagorno- Karabakh enclave, but Armenian officials denied it had been captured.
Shusha is of cultural and strategic importance to both sides and is 15 kilometres south of the enclave’s de facto capital, Stepanakert.
It is on a hill, with cliffs, making it a natural fortress, and on the main road linking the city with the territory of neighbouring Armenia, which backs the separatists.
At least 1,000 people have died in nearly six weeks of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave internationally recognised as part of
Azerbaijan but populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.
This day “will become a great day in the history of Azerbaijan,” Mr Aliyev said, announcing that Baku’s troops had taken Shusha.
In Baku, people gathered in large numbers to celebrate, waving flags and chanting slogans, while drivers sounded their car horns.
Azerbaijan has so far produced no evidence to support the claim.
Officials from the Nagorno- Karabakh region and Armenia’s Defence Ministry denied Mr Aliyev’s statement was true, but no official rebuttal has been issued.
“Shusha remains an unattainable pipe dream for Azerbaijan. Despite heavy destruction, the fortress city withstands the blows of the enemy,” the Nagorno-Karabakh Rescue Service said before the announcement.
Armenia’s Defence Ministry said heavy fighting for the site continues, while the Defence Army of Nagorno- Karabakh said it had repelled numerous attempts by the Azerbaijani side to advance on the town.
After Turkey intervened, including with Syrian mercenaries, Azerbaijan has had the upper hand in the bloodiest fighting in the South Caucasus in more than 25 years. In little over a month, it has retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno- Karabakh, which broke away in the 1990s.
The town could become a staging post for an Azerbaijani assault on Stepanakert. Both faced heavy shelling in the past few days. Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said allegations that it had shelled civilian areas were misinformation.
Shusha’s population was predominantly Azerbaijani before the previous conflict, making it historically significant for Azerbaijan. For Armenians, it is the site of Karabakh’s cathedral, which was damaged by shelling last month.
Azerbaijan has reclaimed large areas of Karabakh’s southern flank – experts estimate Baku has retaken 15 to 20 per cent of the territory it lost in Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions in the 1990s.
Much of this land is plains and the fighting will be far harder in the narrow passes and mountains, where separatist forces have had years to build up their defences.
Armenian officials said any gains by Baku have come at an enormous cost and claim to have killed several thousand enemy troops.