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TODAY IS SHUSHI LIBERATION DAY (VIDEO)
http://lurer.com/?p=98691&l=en
2013-05-08 09:22:01
Exactly 21 years ago, on the night of May 9, the Armenian forces
launched an operation to liberate Shushi.
The Capture of Shushi, referred to as the Liberation of Shushi
by Armenians and Occupation of Shushi by Azerbaijanis was the
first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the
Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically
important mountain town of Shushi on the evening of May 8, 1992,
and fighting swiftly concluded the following day after Armenian
forces captured and drove out the defending Azeris. Armenian military
commanders based in Nagorno-Karabakh's capital of Stepanakert had been
contemplating the capture of the town after a hail of Azeri military
bombardment had begun shelling that city.
The seizure of the town proved decisive. Shushi was the most important
military stronghold that Azerbaijan held in Nagorno-Karabakh -
its loss marked a turning point in the war, and led to a series of
military victories by Armenian forces in the course of the conflict.
However some of the shelling was, according to the accounts of former
residents, either indiscriminate or intentionally aimed at civilian
targets.
In February 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh had been an autonomous oblast for
over seventy years inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. Following
its government's decision to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with
Armenia, the conflict erupted into a larger scale ethnic feud between
Armenians and Azeris living in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet
Union collapsed in 1991, the Armenians and Azeris vied to take control
of Karabakh with full scale battles taking place in the winter of
1992. By then, the enclave had declared its independence and set up
an unrecognized, though self-functioning government.
The advanced weaponry of tanks, armored fighting vehicles, fighter
jets and helicopter gunships bought and used by both sides illustrated
the aftereffects of the free-for-all weapons vacuum created upon the
disintegration of the Soviet Union. A large scale population shift
had also been in effect since the conflict began with most of the
Armenians living in Azerbaijan and Azeris in Armenia trading places.
The battle was preceded by the controversial capture of the town and
the location of Karabakh's only airport in Khojaly by Armenians in
February 1992. With the loss of Khojaly, Azeri commanders had been
redirecting the rest of their firepower upon Stepanakert from the
ridge on Shushi.
http://lurer.com/?p=98691&l=en
2013-05-08 09:22:01
Exactly 21 years ago, on the night of May 9, the Armenian forces
launched an operation to liberate Shushi.
The Capture of Shushi, referred to as the Liberation of Shushi
by Armenians and Occupation of Shushi by Azerbaijanis was the
first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the
Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically
important mountain town of Shushi on the evening of May 8, 1992,
and fighting swiftly concluded the following day after Armenian
forces captured and drove out the defending Azeris. Armenian military
commanders based in Nagorno-Karabakh's capital of Stepanakert had been
contemplating the capture of the town after a hail of Azeri military
bombardment had begun shelling that city.
The seizure of the town proved decisive. Shushi was the most important
military stronghold that Azerbaijan held in Nagorno-Karabakh -
its loss marked a turning point in the war, and led to a series of
military victories by Armenian forces in the course of the conflict.
However some of the shelling was, according to the accounts of former
residents, either indiscriminate or intentionally aimed at civilian
targets.
In February 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh had been an autonomous oblast for
over seventy years inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. Following
its government's decision to secede from Azerbaijan and unify with
Armenia, the conflict erupted into a larger scale ethnic feud between
Armenians and Azeris living in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet
Union collapsed in 1991, the Armenians and Azeris vied to take control
of Karabakh with full scale battles taking place in the winter of
1992. By then, the enclave had declared its independence and set up
an unrecognized, though self-functioning government.
The advanced weaponry of tanks, armored fighting vehicles, fighter
jets and helicopter gunships bought and used by both sides illustrated
the aftereffects of the free-for-all weapons vacuum created upon the
disintegration of the Soviet Union. A large scale population shift
had also been in effect since the conflict began with most of the
Armenians living in Azerbaijan and Azeris in Armenia trading places.
The battle was preceded by the controversial capture of the town and
the location of Karabakh's only airport in Khojaly by Armenians in
February 1992. With the loss of Khojaly, Azeri commanders had been
redirecting the rest of their firepower upon Stepanakert from the
ridge on Shushi.