The Battle of Shusha (Azerbaijani: Şuşa döyüşü or Şuşa uğrunda döyüş; Armenian: Շուշիի ճակատամարտ, romanized: Shushii chakatamart) was the final and decisive battle of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, fought between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, militarily supported by Armenia, over the control of the city of Shusha. The battle is considered one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Shusha, known to Armenians as Shushi, and the surrounding mountainous terrain, is one of the most strategically important locations in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, and is usually referred to as the "beating heart" of the region. Until the middle of the 19th century, the city was considered the cultural and political centre of the regional Azerbaijani population, as well as one of the two main cities of the Transcaucasus for Armenians and the center of a self-governing Armenian principality from medieval times through the 1750s.
The city had a mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani population until the Shusha massacre in 1920, when Azerbaijani forces destroyed the Armenian half of the city and killed or expelled its Armenian population— from 500 to 20,000 people. Since the massacre left the city predominantly Azerbaijani, it was thereafter incorporated into the Azerbaijani SSR, along with the rest of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The city was captured in 1992 by Armenian Armed Forces to lift the Siege of Stepanakert during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, and its then-predominantly-Azerbaijani population was expelled from it. The city subsequently served as a defensive backbone within Artsakh, connecting the de facto capital, Stepanakert, to the town of Goris in Armenia via the Lachin corridor.
Advancing from the city of Jabrayil, the Azerbaijani military captured the town of Hadrut in mid-October. The Azerbaijani forces then advanced further north, entering Shusha District through its forests and mountain passes. Although Shusha had been under bombardment since the beginning of the conflict, local warfare erupted near the city on 29 October. Azerbaijan seized control of the village of Chanakchi, followed by part of the strategic Shusha–Lachin road on 4 November, with the Armenian forces subsequently closing the road to civilians. Le Monde reported that the battle had turned in favour of Azerbaijan on 6 November, despite Artsakh's denial.
Supported by artillery fire, Azerbaijani special forces entered Shusha on 6 November. After two days of battle, the Armenian forces were driven out of the city, and on 8 November, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, stated that Azerbaijani forces had taken control of Shusha; Armenia issued a denial. The next day, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence released a video from the city, confirming full Azerbaijani control. On the same day, the Artsakh's Presidential Office confirmed that it had lost control of Shusha, although this was later contradicted by statements from the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the Armenian Ministry of Defence. Following the signing of a ceasefire agreement, President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan reiterated that Artsakh had lost control of the city on 7 November, and Pashinyan admitted to the loss of the city. Due to the strategic advantage the city provided, the capture of Shusha became a decisive moment in the war, with Azerbaijan declaring victory a few days later.
Azerbaijan's victory in Shusha was widely celebrated in Azerbaijani society and its diaspora. 8 November, the day the President of Azerbaijan announced the victory of the Azerbaijani forces, was declared Victory Day in Azerbaijan, and a future Baku Metro station was named "8 November". A military award was created for those who took part in the battle.
The name of Nobel Avenue in Baku has been changed to "8 November" Avenue.
The Battle of Shusha (Azerbaijani: Şuşa döyüşü or Şuşa uğrunda döyüş; Armenian: Շուշիի ճակատամարտ, romanized: Shushii chakatamart) was the final and decisive battle of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, fought between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, militarily supported by Armenia, over the control of the city of Shusha. The battle is considered one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Shusha, known to Armenians as Shushi, and the surrounding mountainous terrain, is one of the most strategically important locations in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, and is usually referred to as the "beating heart" of the region. Until the middle of the 19th century, the city was considered the cultural and political centre of the regional Azerbaijani population, as well as one of the two main cities of the Transcaucasus for Armenians and the center of a self-governing Armenian principality from medieval times through the 1750s.
The city had a mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani population until the Shusha massacre in 1920, when Azerbaijani forces destroyed the Armenian half of the city and killed or expelled its Armenian population— from 500 to 20,000 people. Since the massacre left the city predominantly Azerbaijani, it was thereafter incorporated into the Azerbaijani SSR, along with the rest of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The city was captured in 1992 by Armenian Armed Forces to lift the Siege of Stepanakert during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, and its then-predominantly-Azerbaijani population was expelled from it. The city subsequently served as a defensive backbone within Artsakh, connecting the de facto capital, Stepanakert, to the town of Goris in Armenia via the Lachin corridor.
Advancing from the city of Jabrayil, the Azerbaijani military captured the town of Hadrut in mid-October. The Azerbaijani forces then advanced further north, entering Shusha District through its forests and mountain passes. Although Shusha had been under bombardment since the beginning of the conflict, local warfare erupted near the city on 29 October. Azerbaijan seized control of the village of Chanakchi, followed by part of the strategic Shusha–Lachin road on 4 November, with the Armenian forces subsequently closing the road to civilians. Le Monde reported that the battle had turned in favour of Azerbaijan on 6 November, despite Artsakh's denial.
Supported by artillery fire, Azerbaijani special forces entered Shusha on 6 November. After two days of battle, the Armenian forces were driven out of the city, and on 8 November, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, stated that Azerbaijani forces had taken control of Shusha; Armenia issued a denial. The next day, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence released a video from the city, confirming full Azerbaijani control. On the same day, the Artsakh's Presidential Office confirmed that it had lost control of Shusha, although this was later contradicted by statements from the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the Armenian Ministry of Defence. Following the signing of a ceasefire agreement, President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan reiterated that Artsakh had lost control of the city on 7 November, and Pashinyan admitted to the loss of the city. Due to the strategic advantage the city provided, the capture of Shusha became a decisive moment in the war, with Azerbaijan declaring victory a few days later.
Azerbaijan's victory in Shusha was widely celebrated in Azerbaijani society and its diaspora. 8 November, the day the President of Azerbaijan announced the victory of the Azerbaijani forces, was declared Victory Day in Azerbaijan, and a future Baku Metro station was named "8 November". A military award was created for those who took part in the battle. The name of Nobel Avenue in Baku has been changed to "8 November" Avenue.
Background
Shusha was the second-largest city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region prior to the 2020 war. It is de jure part of the Shusha District of Azerbaijan, although it had been controlled by the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh since the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994, as part of its Shushi Province. The city is located at an altitude of 1,300 to 1,600 meters (4,300 to 5,200 ft) above sea level, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the regional capital Stepanakert, referred to by the Azerbaijanis as Khankendi. The two settlements are separated by a valley, and Shusha, which serves as a buffer zone for Stepanakert, and is situated in mountainous terrain overlooking the region, has been described as a "strategic height from where one could keep all Nagorno-Karabakh under control". The strategic hilltop town is popularly referred to as an "unassailable" mountain fortress by both the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis. A key road connecting Goris in Syunik Province, southern Armenia, to Stepanakert passes through the Lachin corridor via Shusha; the only other major road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh passes through the Murovdağ mountains in the northern Kalbajar District.
Directly prior to the Armenian-Azerbaijani War of 1918–1920, Armenians formed a slight majority in the town. However, the town was left with a predominantly Azerbaijani majority after the war, as the Armenian population was massacred and the Armenian half of the city was razed during Shusha massacre. Subsequently, in 1923, under the Soviet rule, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was created, and Shusha was the only large settlement with an Azerbaijani majority to be incorporated into the oblast.
In February 1988, the government of the Armenian-majority NKAO voted in favour of seceding from Azerbaijan and unifying with Armenia, leading to a wider ethnic and territorial conflict between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis living in the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis vied to take control of Nagorno Karabakh and the fighting had escalated into full-scale warfare by early 1992. By then, the enclave had declared its independence and set up an unrecognised government. Beginning in late 1991, Shusha became used by Azerbaijani forces as a base for daily indiscriminate rocket attacks onto the regional capital of Stepanakert during the Siege of Stepanakert, causing at least 169 civilian deaths. On 8 May 1992, the Armenian forces launched successful offensive to capture Shusha in order to break the siege, and its Azerbaijani population of about 15,000 people, which made up 85.5% of the city's population in 1979, was forced to flee. Most of the city came into ruins, and Shusha turned into a ghost town. The ethnic Armenians, most of whom were the ones who fled anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, then settled in the city, with about five thousand people living in Shusha prior to the battle in 2020. In 2020, the de facto President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan announced plans to move the National Assembly of Artsakh to Shusha, which escalated the tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The city has historical, political and cultural importance for both the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis. For Armenians, Shusha has served as a town and ancient fortress for Armenian principality of Varanda during the Middle Ages and through the 18th century. It was one of the two main Armenian cities of the Transcaucasus and the center of a self-governing Armenian principality, the Melikdoms of Karabakh, from medieval times through the 1750s. It also has religious significance to the Armenians, as the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral is located in the city, and was the seat of the Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church until the end of the war.
For Azerbaijanis, the city holds particular cultural significance, who consider the city to their cultural capital in the region, and regard it as more important than Stepanakert. Through history, the city was a home to many Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets, writers and especially, musicians (e.g., the ashiks, mugham singers, kobuz players). Thus, Shusha is often considered the cradle of Azerbaijan's music and poetry and one of the leading centres of the Azerbaijani culture.
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, had frequently described retaking the city as one of the war's key objectives. In a 16 October interview with the Turkish television, Aliyev said that "without Shusha, our cause will be unfinished", while the self-declared Armenian President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, called Shusha "one of our greatest legacies we have inherited from our ancestors", and added that "who controls Shushi, controls Artsakh". Despite the symbolic importance of the town, the International Crisis Group's Azerbaijani analyst Zaur Shiriyev stated that it remained unclear whether the capture of Shusha was a military or political target, while according to the Azerbaijani political analyst Fuad Shahbazov, the victory of Azerbaijani forces in Shusha would be "perceived as a moral victory for Azerbaijanis, whether they are on the front or not", which will also lead to "serious demoralization" among Armenian soldiers, and according to International Crisis Group's senior analyst Olesya Vartanyan, the side that controlled Shusha had "automatically gained control over Stepanakert".
Prelude
On 27 September 2020, an Azerbaijani offensive marked the beginning of clashes in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is de facto controlled by the self-proclaimed and unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, but de jure part of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani forces first advanced in Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts, taking their respective administrative centres. From there, they proceeded towards Hadrut. The Armenian forces planned to hold out long enough until winter brought the Azerbaijani offensive, and especially its aerial operations to a standstill, buying time for international pressure to propel the Azerbaijani leadership to abandon its offensive. But after the fall of Hadrut around 15 October, the Azerbaijani troops began to advance more intensively, and the Armenians started to retreat, with the Azerbaijanis then taking control of Zangilan. Launching an offensive for Lachin, the Azerbaijani forces also pivoted their war effort towards Shusha, penetrating into Shusha District through its forests and mountain passes.
Shusha had been under sporadic artillery fire since the beginning of the war. Novaya Gazeta reported that on 4 October, the Azerbaijani forces had rocketed the House of Culture in Shusha, where, according to local residents, hundreds of military and police officers were present. Later on, the local Armenian media reported that more than 22 police officers were killed, and about 200 more were injured during the attack. The New York Times also reported that the building was damaged. On 8 October, Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the city came under bombardment, reportedly by Azerbaijan, and was seriously damaged; Azerbaijan denied any responsibility. Throughout October, reports emerged that Shusha, as well as villages nearby, were being rocketed and shelled by Azerbaijani forces, while Azerbaijan denied shelling the city. On 28 October, Artsakh authorities stated that the situation in Chanakchi, located several kilometres south-east of Shusha, was "tense". The next day, Armenian Ministry of Defence stated that clashes were taking place in the village, and the self-proclaimed President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, stated that the Azerbaijani forces were already 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Shusha. On 30 October, clashes were reported to have erupted near Shusha. On the same day, an Abkhazian Network News Agency correspondent reported that large explosions were heard near the city. The next day, Artsakh authorities stated that Shusha had again come under bombardment. On 2 November, the Armenian authorities stated that fierce clashes were taking place near Shusha.
Before the battle, in late October and early November, both Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of using white phosphorus near Shusha. On 30 October, Artsakh authorities had accused the Azerbaijani military of using phosphorus to burn forests near Shusha; Azerbaijan issued a denial. On 20 November, Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan filed a lawsuit, accusing the Armenian Armed Forces of using chemical munitions to "inflict large-scale and long-term harm to the environment" around Shusha, while Azerbaijani authorities had also stated that the Armenian forces were transporting white phosphorus into the region. The use of white phosphorus is strictly regulated under an international agreement that neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan had signed.
Battle
According to the Azerbaijani accounts, the Azerbaijani special forces, who were tens of kilometers (miles) away from the main Azerbaijani forces in Hadrut, continued on foot towards Shusha for five days, as both the terrain and the route were not suitable for vehicles. Choosing to move through the forests, they had avoided the Lachin corridor and Qirmizi Bazar, which was heavily defended by the Armenian forces. This was reiterated by the Azerbaijani presidentIlham Aliyev later on, who stated that the Azerbaijani forces had crossed the ravines, forests and mountains to reach the city. On 4 November, the Armenian authorities reported that clashes continued near Shusha. This saw Azerbaijan capture the mountains south of Shusha, as well as make progress into the Lachin corridor.
Subsequently, the Armenian forces closed the Shusha–Lachin road to civilians, trapping 80 journalists within the enclave, according to Reporters Without Borders. The Armenian authorities stated that Shusha was heavily shelled on the morning of 5 November, and that clashes continued the following day. The Russian media reported that the Azerbaijani forces had managed to surround the city from three sides–the south, west, and east. On 6 November, Le Monde reported that the battle had turned in favour of Azerbaijan, despite a denial by Artsakh. In the early morning, Argishti Kyaramyan, who had served as the head of the Armenian National Security Service (NSS) until October 2020, stating that his duties in the region were completely fulfilled, left Shusha. In the meanwhile, the Armenian military commander Seyran Ohanyan, who was leading a group of 16 men in the city, also left Shusha.
The next day, thousands of Armenians fled Shusha and neighbouring Stepanakert, with long lines of vehicles jamming the road. The Armenian artillery batteries were repositioned outside the city and local servicemen set up last-minute checkpoints to ensure no male resident under 58 was leaving. On 7 November, the Armenian authorities stated that fierce combat took place overnight near Shusha and Dashalty, and also claimed that several Azerbaijani attacks had been thwarted; Azerbaijan denied this, and its president, Ilham Aliyev, announced that the Azerbaijani forces had seized control of Garabulag and Baharly in Khojaly District, located to the southeast of the city.