Armenians celebrating 26th anniversary of Shushi liberation
Photos by Hetq.am
May 8 is traditionally referred to as an important landmark in the chapters of the Armenia’s modern history.
Exactly on this day 26 years ago, Armenian defense forces seized back Shushi, a strategically important town of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), from Azerbiajan, pushing for a serious breakthrough in the liberation battle.
The military operation, dubbed “Wedding in the Mountains”, is treated as a groundbreaking victory by not only the servicemen who fought in the battle but also historians and political analysts.
Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (aka Komandos), a legendary veteran of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, says the name was not randomly selected given the importance of the strategic stronghold. He says he was strongly determined to realize the liberation plan despite the repeated allegations insisting on its impossibility.
A historian and lawmaker of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Mihran Hakobyan, says he has absolutely no doubt that the liberation of Shushi is now cited as a brilliant example of victory in the history textbooks of many world countries.
“Shushi is geographically an invincible fortress, which was liberated thanks to the literate and very brilliant operations of our Armenian heroes,” he told Tert.am.
“The map of those military actions is a historic document - approved by Serzh Sargsyan, who was then the head of the Nagorno-Karabakh Self-Defense Committee. Hence nobody is ever likely to renounce the fact, knowing that the Armenian nation does really exist,” Hakobyan added.
The continuing bomb and artillery attacks kept not only Shushi but also Stepanakert under fire, making life almost impossible in the capital in the war period. The city, which was 70% destroyed in heavy battles, immediately regained its relative peace after the historic military actions.
Historian Ashot Nersisyan also agrees that the city’s liberation would have been almost impossible without a high-level understanding and an accurate planning of steps.
“The important thing is the evaluation of the fact that the town was eventually seized [back]. And it wasn’t’ absolutely easy; all was achieved thanks to the talent of our soldiers,” he noted.
An estimated 111 civilians are known to have been died and some 332 wounded in the heavy mine strikes targeting Shushi, Stepanakert and the neighboring towns and villages (Janhasan, Kyosalar, Ghaybalu) in the period between 1991 and May 1992. Around 370 houses and oyther facilities were destroyed.
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