Министерство Образования Азербайджанской Республики

Азербайджанская Национальная Консерватория

Бакинский Музыкальный Колледж

Самостоятельная работа 9

Предмет:Английский язык
Курс: IIa
Преподаватель: Садигова Арифа
Студентка: Абдинзаде Джамаля

Тема: The capture of Shusha

 On the night of May 8, 1992 Armenian troops
captured Shusha, the biggest Azeri city in Mountainous
Karabakh. The city was shelled by the artillery till 6.00
a.m. and after that thousands of Armenian soldiers
attacked Shusha from three directions. The Armenian
troops were supported by 400 armored vehicles from
Russian regiment No. 366, the armament of which was
later handed to Armenia.
Armenian sources claim that the operation to seize
the city was worked out by the former Soviet colonel
Arkadii Ter- Tadevosian, who commanded the
Armenian troops in Mountainous Karabakh. Using the
factor of surprise and chaos in Shusha, Armenians
caused panic and prevented the organization of
defense. Meanwhile, the street battles continued for a
long time. However, without sufficient assistance, the
self-defense forces of the town and the regular troops
started leaving the city. Hundreds of civilians were
killed and injured during the capture of Shusha. In
addition, hundreds of people were imprisoned and were
reported missing.
Some sources later claimed that the Russian sub-
divisions, particularly the soldiers of the Russian
Intelligence Department located in Lagodekhi,
Georgia, fought on the Armenian side in this battle.
Armenians started the attack on Shusha several
hours after the Armenian and Azeri Presidents, signed
a peace agreement on resolution of the Karabakh
conflict in Teheran, with the mediation of the Iranian
president.
 Shusha was captured with the involvement of the
Russian military-political circles in order to prevent
Azerbaijan's leaving Russia’s orbit. During the
first days after the capture of the city, Russian generals
and politicians of various levels made it clear that the
city could be given back if Baku agreed to subordinate
its armed troops to the general command of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in
deciding upon the foreign and internal policy issues.
President Ayaz Mutalibov, who made a brief
come-back to power on May 14, 1992, said in an
interview to TURAN that the capture of Shusha was a
"caprice of wartime," and made it clear that the city
would be liberated. However, after a day Mutalibov
was overthrown and at the end of May 1992 the
Popular Front's government gave a start to the process
of withdrawal of the Russian military contingent from
Azerbaijan.
During the capture of the city and later on during
the occupation the Armenian side purposefully
destroyed ancient historical and cultural monuments,
with the intention to wipe out all Azeri cultural traces
in Shusha, a city which was founded by Panahali khan,
the Azeri khan of Karabakh in mid 18th century
(Turan).