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May 9: Day of victory for Shoushi, 20 years ago

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  • May 9: Day of victory for Shoushi, 20 years ago

    Karabakh | 08.05.12 | 13:54
    May 9: Day of victory for Shoushi, 20 years ago
    [image: May 9: Day of victory for Shoushi, 20 years ago]

    Photolure

    Tank in Shoushi symbolizing the great liberation of Shoushi on May 9, 1992.
    By Aris Ghazinyan
    ArmeniaNow reporter

    On May 9 Nagorno Karabakh will celebrate with grandeur the 20th anniversary
    of Shoushi's liberation, due to which Nagorno Karabakh stopped being an
    enclave in 1992.

    Immediately after Armenia gained control over Shoushi, the Armenian
    self-defense forces entered Lachin, May 12-18 of 1992, and solved a
    strategic task, which was to secure a direct land communication between
    Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

    Prior to the festivities certain details are recalled that have rarely been
    voiced before.

    `Twenty years ago things might have turned out differently and we wouldn't
    be where we are today,' says Armenian expert Garegin Gabrieyelyan, leader
    of Keni Research Center.

    He says in early May of 1992, then Iranian president Hashemi-Rafsanjani
    invited acting head of the Azeri state Yakub Mamedov and Armenian president
    Levon Ter-Petrosyan to visit Teheran for bilateral negotiations.

    They met on May 7, and the following day a Joint Statement was adopted.

    The sides agreed that `within a week's time as soon as a representative of
    the Islamic Republic of Iran arrives and with the assistance of Azeri and
    Armenian leaders ceasefire is established and simultaneously all
    communication roads open to satisfy economic needs.'

    Despite the attractive appearance of it, this statement made no sense.

    First of all, there wasn't a single person in Azerbaijan that could have
    guaranteed unblocking the communications (the Azeri Republic then didn't
    even have a president), and secondly, Nagorno Karabakh was not mentioned at
    all as a side in the conflict.

    `God knows what would have happened to this land, and who would be
    populating it now if on May 9 of 1992 the Armenian forces of self-defense
    did not start the Shoushi operation taking advantage of Ter-Petrosyan's
    absence,' the expert says.

    On May 9 Armenians gained total control over the Shoushi fortress. This
    news stirred huge clamor and indignation not only in Baku, but also among
    Armenia's ruling party members: a session was held in Yerevan, during which
    angry leaders of the Armenian All-National Movement condemned General
    Arkady Ter-Tatevosyan's (Commandos) actions.

    Shoushi's liberation became the catalyst of drastic shift in the situation
    both on the frontline and in Azerbaijan.

    On May 14 Milli Majlis had no way out but to bring back to the office the
    resigned president of Azerbaijan (he left the office on March 6) Ayaz
    Mutalibov; however, as it turned out, only for one day.

    Acting president Mamedov urged `the Turanian nation to unite in the name
    of
    return of Shoushi'.

    In the second half of May Baku was expecting a special delegation led by
    Turkish Prime-Minister Suleyman Demirel.

    Mutalibov's second resignation was conditioned not only by the Turkish
    interference: other forces affected personnel reorganization in Azerbaijan,
    not the least role of which was played by Afghan mojaheds (Muslims who
    proclaim themselves warriors for the faith) and Chechens.

    Right after losing Shoushi, Hassan Hattab, who had escaped from Shoushi,
    met Abulfaz Elchibey and discussed the plan developed by `grey wolves'
    on
    how to put him into power.

    But it didn't work, the fact that in May the Armenians entered Lachin put
    an end to Nagorno Karabakh's being an enclave.

    Vladimir Kazimirov, who during the war was the Russian president's
    plenipotentiary representative on Nagorno Karabakh, recalls that the
    changed situation on the frontline was now threatening to put Azerbaijan in
    a blockade.

    `If Armenia gained exit to Kura River it would cut off Azerbaijan's
    north-western end. Baku did not put forward any preconditions and was ready
    for continuous truce.'

    This is what became the foundation for the ceasefire agreement.

    http://armenianow.com/karabakh/37936/karabakh_war_shoushi_liberation_anniversary




    From: A. Papazian
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