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Nagorno-Karabagh War
1991-1994
From the beginning of 1991
Azerbaijan embarked on attacking the
Armenian population of both the
Nagorno Karabakh region and also the
Shahoumian district. The Azerbaijani
television broadcast President of
Azerbaijan Ajaz Mutalibov’s edict on
the introduction of presidential
ruling in NÊÀÎ and the Azerbaijani
districts adjacent to it. In the
district there appeared leaflets
containing an ultimatum demand that
the Armenian people should leave the
bounds of Nagorno- Karabagh at the
earliest possible date.
On January 14, the Azerbaijani
Supreme Soviet Presidium took a
decision to unite two neighboring
districts, the Armenian Shahoumian
and Azerbaijani Kasum-Ismailov, into
one under the name Geranboy. The aim
of the Azerbaijani leadership was
obvious- to liquidate another
Armenian district, deporting its
indigenous inhabitants and
repopulating the Armenian villages
with Azeris. By that time the
Shahumian district had twenty
thousand inhabitants, of whom 82%
were Armenians.
On January 22nd, at Stepanakert
Airport OMON, the Special Forces of
Azerbaijan, refused entry to a group
of deputies from the R.S.F.S.R.
Supreme Soviet who had arrived to
study the situation. The deputies
had arrived under the instructions
of the Russian Supreme Soviet and
were sent back to Baku.
The situation in Nagorno Karabagh
and adjacent Armenian districts
became heated. One such action that
gave rise to deterioration in the
region was Operation Ring. This
punitive act taken against the
Armenians in late April and early
May of 91 involved the forces of the
USSR Ministry of the Interior
together with Azerbaijani special
militia detachments. On the pretext
of a passport "check" an
unprecedented action of State terror
was carried out with the aim of
destroying the brain-center of the
Movement and annihilating the
national unity. The first victims
became the villagers of Getashen and
Martunashen of the Khanlar district
of Azerbaijan. The male population
was taken out in an unknown
direction where a "passport check"
took place accompanied with
brutality, looting, and robbery.
During three days the population of
24 Karabakh villages were subjected
to similar treatment and
deportation. Two of the villages
were in the Khanlar district, three
in the Shahumian district, fifteen
in the Gadrut district and four in
the Shushi district. As a result of
these actions in Karabagh and in
near- border of Armenia more than
100 people were killed and several
hundred more were taken hostages.
On April 24, the Armenian Supreme
Soviet Chairman directed a letter to
the USSR leadership with the request
to take urgent measures for
protecting and ensuring security
guarantees of the Armenian
population of the district. On May
3, the Armenian Party organization’s
active members addressed President
of the USSR M. Gorbachev with the
same request. On May 4, the meetings
of President of Armenia
L.Ter-Petrossian with M.Gorbachev
and President of Russia B.Yeltsin
took place, but they did not produce
a statement following the meeting.
The USSR MVD (Interior Ministry)
troops with the Azerbajani OMON
continued to conduct their punitive
operations. It was evident that the
trend of developments was leading to
a wide-scale war.
On May 6, the USSR Supreme Soviet
discussed the demands of Armenia to
convene the congress of the USSR
people’s deputies in connection with
the rapidly deteriorating situation
within NKAO and the downturn in
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The
decision was taken to continue
discussions of the problem at the
Commission of the Soviet of
Nationalities of the USSR Supreme
Soviet. Meanwhile, on the same day
700 Armenian refugees were taken
from Getashen to Stepanakert by the
military helicopters.
The rally, planned by public
organizations in Stepanakert on May
7, was prohibited by the military
commandant’s office. The day before
armoured troop carriers were
traveling about the town with loud-
speakers, notifying the people that
weapons would be used should there
be insubordination.
As a result of the critical
situation in Nagorno Karabakh the
executive committee of the district
Soviet announced both locally and to
the world in general that they had
declared state of emergency in the
district.
On the same day the executive
committee addressed the UN and the
leadership of a number of countries
with the request to save the
Armenian people of NKAO from
physical extermination and grant
them political asylum.
On July 19, 1991 the enlarged
session of the district Soviet
executive committee was held at
which measures on the stabilization
of the political and economic
situation in the district were
discussed. The leadership took the
decision to restore the authorities
of the NKAO People’s Deputies
Soviet, conduct new elections of the
district Soviet, formulate a
survival program for Artsakh and
thoroughly prepare for armed
resistance against Azerbaijan. A
representative delegation for
conducting negotiations with the
Azerbaijani leadership was created.
As a result of these negotiations in
Baku a temporary peace was
established.
On June 24th, the NKAO delegation
left for Moscow to meet with the
Soviet leadership to consider the
problem of restoring the functions
of the district bodies’ power and a
possible dialogue with the
Azerbaijani side on the peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
situation. On June 29th, the USSR
vice-president G.Yanaev approved the
initiative and promised to promote
the dialogue and peaceful resolution
of the Karabakh problem. The efforts
of the NKAO delegation to meet the
USSR President M. Gorbachev failed.
On the same day the NKAO
representatives were received by the
Supreme Soviet Chairman A. Lukyanov,
who expressed the opinion about the
necessity of restoring the district
Soviet of People’s Deputies and
promised to send the Supreme Soviet
delegation to Nagorno- Karabakh to
study the situation. Meetings were
also held with the USSR Defense
Ministry D. Yazov, Internal Affairs
Minister B. Pugou, Deputy Prosecutor
General Trubin, and the former USSR
Foreign Minister E. Shevardnadze.
But all yielded little in terms of
practical results.
The Azerbaijani leadership continued
its policy of deportation of the
Armenian population, justifying this
deportation as voluntary departures.
These actions were accompanied with
atrocities, including torture,
murder, looting, banditry, brutality
and violence. On July 19th a session
of the Nagorno Karabakh district
Soviet of People’s Deputies
discussed the beginning of a
dialogue with the Azerbaijani side
on a peaceful settlement of the
conflict. On July 20th the NKAO
delegation held a meeting with
President of Azerbaijan A. Mutalibov,
but no concrete results were
achieved.
The turning - point of the
national-liberation movement of the
Karabakh people became the creation
of their statehood. It was the only
way of ensuring the security of the
population and their territory.
On September 2, in Stepanakert a
joint session of the Nagorno
Karabakh Regional Council and the
Governing Council of the Shahumian
district took place where it was
agreed that in line with the wishes
of all peoples within the boundaries
of Nagorno Karabakh and the
Shahoumian Region the Nagorno
Karabakh Republic would be
proclaimed. Leonard Petrossian was
elected chairman of the NKR
Executive Committee. Almost
immediately followed the Azerbaijani
response when for the first time
Stepanakert was subjected to
bombardment and shelling with
‘Alazan’ rockets. This was to become
a regular event. On September 22,
Presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan,
B.Yeltsin and N. Nazarbaev
accompanied by A.Mutalibov arrived
in Stepanakert on a peacemaking
mission. On September 23, in
Zheleznovodsk (Russia) at the
request of B. Yeltsin and N.
Nazarbaev negotiations were held
between the Armenian, Azerbaijani
and Nagorno Karabakh delegations on
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement and as a result of these
negotiations a joint communique was
adopted. The delegation of Nagorno
Karabakh was headed by one of the
leaders of the national-liberation
movement Robert Kocharian.
B.Yeltsin and Nazarbaev’s mediation
initiative did not lead to the
improvement of the situation in
Nagorno Karabakh. On the contrary,
Azeris rapidly escalated bombardment
by shelling and attacks on the
Armenian populated areas.
On October 15th, the representatives
of Presidents of Russia and
Kazakhstan arrived in Baku to get
acquainted with the implementation
of the Zheleznovodsk agreement.
President of Azerbadjain A.
Mutalibov was to receive them and it
was he who had stated that it was
only Azerbaijan who was competent to
resolvee the Nagorno-Karabagh
conflict and that no outside agency
or country must, intervene in its
internal affairs.
Meanwhile, in Baku anti-Armenian
riots were organized with the
Azerbaijani Popular Front, making
calls to create a regular army to
capture Karabagh.
In the same year, on November 26,
the Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet
adopted a bill on dissolution of
Nagorno-Karabakh as
national-territorial entity, and the
Nagorno-Karabakh districts were
renamed and subordinated to the
newly created administrative
centers. On the 28th of November a
resolution of the USSR Committee of
Constitutional Supervision condemned
the Azerbaijani legislative body act
as violating the status of the NKAO,
sealed by the USSR Constitution.
The most important stage in the
national liberation struggle of the
Karabakh people became the
all-republican referendum, held on
December 10, 1991, 98% of the
participants of which voted in
favour of independence of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. On
December 28,despite constant
bombardment by the Azerbaijani Army,
elections for the Supreme Soviet of
the republic were carried out in the
NKR. On January 6, 1992 the NKR
newly elected legislative body,
proceeding from the essential right
of peoples for self-determination
and basing on the Nagorno-Karabagh
people’s will, expressed through a
referendum, adopted the Declaration
of the NKR Independence. On the same
day the deputies appealed to the UN
and to all the countries of the
world with the request to recognize
the NKR and help to prevent the
genocide of the Artsakh Armenians.
On January 8, the session elected
the leader of the legislative body
of the republic. Thirty-year Arthur
Mkrtchian became the first chairman
of the NKR Supreme Soviet. Oleg
Yesaian was confirmed Chairman of
the Council of Ministers.
Taking advantage of the collapse of
the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan
proceeded to escalate wide-scaled
military offensives against
Nagorno-Karabagh. The
Azeri-populated villages,
surrounding Stepanakert, were turned
into large military bases from which
by means of artillery guns the
capital of the republic was being
methodically destroyed. There began
an unprecedented in the whole
history of the Karabagh conflict
shelling by 40-barrelled missile
rocket launchers "Grad" - a weapon
of mass elimination the use of which
against civilian population is
forbidden by numerous international
conventions. For the first time the
Azerbaijani side used "Grad" rocket,
bombarding the Shaumian district
center, as a result of which many
people including children died
Late in 1991 the units of the former
4th Soviet army were ordered to
withdraw the territory of Karabagh
they had hardly intervened in the
conflict. The republic then remained
alone, face to face with the
Azerbaijani regular-armed units.
They were equipped with modern
military equipment and weapons
including aircraft many of which
were flown by foreign mercenaries.
Early in 1992 the arsenal of the
Azeri armed forces were considerably
increased at the expense of the
captured warehouses of the
Transcaucasian military district of
the former Soviet Army, located in
the territory of Azerbaijan. There
were kept thousands of carriages
with ammunition that, as military
experts asserted, would be enough
for carrying on intensive military
offensives for at least a year.
1992
On the first day of the 1992, from
the territory of Agdam Azerbaijani
troops accompanied by 10 tanks and
ATC (armored troop carriers)
attacked the Armenian village of
Khramort and burned it. The NKR
capital and the Armenian villages
were subjected to further and
constant intensive shelling. On
January 25-26 an Azerbaijani army
battalion embarked on an offensive
against the village of Karintak of
the Shushi district.
The attack was beaten off after two
days’ of stubborn fighting. On
January 31, Azerbaijan began an
offensive along the whole front
line.
The escalation of military
offensives compelled the NKR to
organize and improve its defense.
With that end in view detachments on
a voluntary basis were being created
throughout Artsakh. A headquarters
of the self-defense forces was
created to centralize and coordinate
these operations. At the beginning
of the year in the territory of
Artsakh more than 10 companies and
platoons existed comprising more
than 1000 people. This became one of
the important steps on the way to
creating a regular army. On the
night of January 21-22,1992 located
in the Kerkjan quarter (former
Karkarashen) of the town of
Stepanakert, the headquarters of the
Azerbaijani OMON was eliminated.
Then from February 10 the firing
points of villages Malibeyli and
Ghushchilar, adjacent to the NKR
capital, were destroyed.
Nevertheless, the situation
continued to remain extremely tense.
From the enemy firing points,
practically located along the full
length of the Azerbaijani-Armenian
border, long-range weapons operated,
causing mass destruction and high
casualty rates amongst the people.
On February 24, the NKR Supreme
Soviet Presidium took a decision
concerning the law status of the
republic armed formations, which
were subordinated to the united
command. Serge Sargssian was
appointed the chairman of the
Self-Defense Committee. One of the
primary tasks of the Artsakh
self-defense forces was the removal
and destruction of the enemy’s
bridgehead at Khodjaly. Here there
was a considerable contingent of
manpower, a great quantity of
military equipment. It was essential
to reopen the corridor that linked
the settlement of Askeran with the
capital Stepanakert and also to
regain control of the republic’s
airport, which was in Azeri hands.
On February 25, the Artsakh
self-defense detachments, taking up
a position in the west of Khodjaly,
demanded that the enemies leave the
military base and allow the
civilians through the established
humanitarian corridor.
The then president of Azerbaijan A.
Mutalibov confessed, that "the
corridor was established by the
Armenians to let the civilian
inhabitants through" (the
Nezavisimaya Gazette, April 2,
1992). Meanwhile the Azeri
servicemen acted in another way,
using the inhabitants in the village
as a shield, they resumed a
bombardment of the NKR populated
points, and when they were compelled
to leave the village, they
themselves shot the civilian
inhabitants columns on the
approaches to the Agdam district
borders. The same A. Mutalibov
connected this unprecedented
criminal action with the Azerbaijani
Opposition Popular Front efforts to
remove him from office, putting the
whole responsibility for what had
happened on him.
Early in March the Azeri army
undertook a wide-scaled offensive on
the entire front line. The main blow
was aimed in the direction of
Mardakert, Askeran and Martuni
districts. As a result of fierce
battles the offensive was halted.
With the liquidation of the Khodjaly
military base bombardment by
shelling did not substantially
decreased. From the town of Shushi,
towering above Stepanakert, the
sustained rocket-artillery
bombardment of the NKR capital and
other populated points were carried
throughout the day and nights that
followed. On May 7, the Azeri
infantry and armour backed with
military helicopters ME-24, embarked
on an assault against the Karabakh
defense positions in the southeast
of Stepanakert.
Simultaneously on the same day from
the Shushi hills and adjacent
Azerbaijani points about 200 Grad
rockets and other types of weapons
were launched down onto the capital,
causing many casualties. A fire
broke out at the railway station and
in a number of houses throughout the
town.
The self-defense force command made
a decision to neutralize the strong
points of the enemy in these
inhabited localities. On May 8, in
the evening the Artsakh self-defense
sub-units assumed an offensive,
which was led by Arkady
Ter-Tadevossian, taking the
Shushi-Lachin main road under their
control. By noon the defense of
Shushi from the north and south had
been broken. As a result of street
battles the Armenian formations had
taken the central quarters of the
town by the evening. On May 9,
Shushi was entirely liberated.
After destroying the firing points
in Shushi and other adjacent
territories of the NKR the
self-defense forces were tasked to
open the road of vital importance-Shushi-Lachin-Zabukh
which would remove the blockade and
restore a normal vital activity of
the republic. On May 18, the
Karabaghian army sub-units entered
Lachin (Kashatag), thus breaking the
3-year blockade ring. On May 20,
along the road Goris-Stepankert
through the Lachin Corridor hundreds
of tons of humanitarian cargo was
delivered to the NKR capital: food,
medicine and other goods being the
first priority. After the Shushi -Lachin
operation there followed a lessening
of tension in the conflict area.
Meanwhile, the enemy was preparing
for the wide-scaled military
operation. On June 12, the
Azerbaijani troops embarked on an
offensive in the northen-eatern,
eastern and southeastern sectors of
the front. Practically, the whole
weight of the Azerbaijan military
was thrown at the 20 kilometers
theatre of operations. In addition
the forces of former Soviet 4-th
Army stationed in the NKR were
engaged. With the help of armor
equipment, Grad multiple-missile
rocket launchers and aircraft the
enemy was able to capture the whole
of the Shahumian district, the part
of the Mardakert and Askeran
districts and came close to the
district center of Askeran.As a
result of an offensive of
unprecedented scale the Azerbaijani
national army destroyed and burned
scores of villages, forty thousand
inhabitants of the republic became
refugees. Taking into account this
situation, on June 18 the NKR
Supreme Soviet announced a state of
emergency in the republic. Partial
mobilization covering sergeants, the
reserve, conscripts from the age
from 18 to 40, officers up to 50
years old, women, were all given
special training.
In the first days of June the
Azerbaijani army, expanding its
offensive in several directions
captured the district center
Mardakert and a number of villages
of the district. The threat hung
over Artsakh with 40% of the
territory occupied by the
Azerbaijani troops.
On August 11, the President of
Azerbaijan issued an edict on
conscription for military service of
all those demobilized from the army
in 1991-1992, as well as a
prolongation for those who serving
in the armed forces. With expansion
of aggression and prevention further
capturing the territories the
necessity of improving the defense,
as well as the necessity of
reorganizing state governing system
was organised. With this aim on
August 12 the NKR Supreme Soviet
Presidium, headed by the SC Acting
Chairman Georgy Petrossian adopted
an edict placing the Republic on a
war footing. The mobilization of men
at the age of 18-45 began. On August
15, the State Committee of Defense
was established, absolute executive
and legislative power having been
passed to it. The State Committee of
Defense, which was headed by Robert
Kocharian, was designed to mobilize
all the manpower and material
resources of the republic, convert
the enterprises, establishments and
organizations to a war status.
The unification of the various
autonomous self-defense forces and
the creation of a united army under
single command became a major
priority.
Meanwhile, heavy battles were
continuing in the different sectors
of the front. Simultaneously, the
Azerbaijani airforce continued to
attack civilian inhabited
localities. On August 18, pellet
bombs were dropped onto Stepanakert
the use of which is forbidden by
international law. On following days
the villages of the Martuni,
Mardakert and Askeran districts were
subjected to aerial bombardment.
By late summer the Mardakert sector
continued to remain an extremely
tense part of the front. On August
26, at the expense of great losses
the enemy succeeded in taking the
Mardakert-Kelbajar main road which
was of great strategic significance.
Scanty Karabaghian forces, operating
in the Mardakert sector did so under
trying conditions. To strengthen
troops in this sector of the front
the regrouping of the forces was
made as a result of which early in
September the Karabakh formations
succeeded in stopping the advance of
the enemy; and undertaking a
counter-offensive in the Askeran
direction and liberating this
district’s villages. In the same
period in the totally occupied
Shahumian district a guerilla
movement was deployed.
In the last decade of October the
Azerbaijani troops twice made an
attempt to cut off the Lachin
humanitarian corridor, however they
were stopped 12 kilometers from it
and then thrown back. On October 19,
the Karabakh forces started a
counter- offensive in the south of
the corridor and came out to the
borders of the Kubatly district.
On November 1992, the NKR Army in
the course of the counter- offensive
operations in the southeast of the
Mardakert district practically took
the Tartar-Mardakert-Kelbajar main
road under its control. Fierce
fighting was carried on for a month
on the full length of the Mardakert
front. Late 1992 observed the
abatement of the activity
hostilities on the full length of
front.
1993
Early in January 1993 military
offensives along the full length of
the Azerbaijani-Karabakh front
entered a new stage. Azerbaijan
engaged almost the whole of its
arsenal – attacking with aircraft,
heavy tanks, various weapons and
infantry.
On January 14, the Azeri troops
embarked on a wide-scaled offensive
in the direction of the village of
Kichan and Srkhavand of the
Mardakert district, and the village
of Chartar of the Martuni district.
However, the enemy was not able to
advance in those sectors.
In early February heavy fighting
took place at the northern front. To
free the occupied territory of the
Mardakert district the NKR
Self-defense Army command gave an
order for taking a counter
offensive. Having broken the
resistance of the enemy in a few
days, the Karabaghian forces came
out on to the strategic sector of
the Mardakert-Kelbajar road. By late
February as a result of heavy
fighting the Karabaghian forces
succeeded in re-establishing full
control under the Sarsang storage
lake where was located the electric
power station that was of vital
importance to the republic.
In the period from March 27 till
April 5 there started the operations
to remove the military bases of the
Kelbajar district, they presented a
serious threat to the western
borders of NKR. On April 3, the
firing points in the district center
Kelbajar were neutralized. Having
taken the crossroad, linking
Kelbajar with Kirovabad, the
Karabaghian forces came out to the
Omar Pass. From the second half of
April the situation at the front
became relatively quiet.
However, late in the spring the
situation changed abruptly. After a
short interval the enemy resumed
military operations on the full
length of the front, choosing the
eastern, Martuni sector for the main
attack. All attempts to break
through the defense of the
Karabaghian troops failed.
At the beginning of the summer the
Defense Army Command started on the
plan for the liberation of the town
of Mardakert, undertaking an
offensive in several directions
simultaneously. The battles reached
a climax on June 27 when thanks to
the decisive and coordinated
actions; Mardakert was liberated
after having been under the
occupation of Azerbaijan for a year.
On June 14, the Supreme Council
Presidium elected the SC Presidium
Member Karen Babourian as the Acting
Chairman of the NKR Parliament.
On July 4, the Azerbaijani army
began a large scale offensive in the
Askeran, Gadrut and Mardakert
sectors of the front supported by
air power and armor engineering. In
all the sectors the enemy was
repulsed and fled to the initial
positions. The height of strategic
importance near the village of
Shelly in the Agdam district, from
where the populated places of the
Asceran district and the town of
Stepanakert were subjected to the
sustained intensive artillery
bombardment by shelling, passed
under the Karabakh forces control.
Nevertheless, the capital of the NKR
continued to be under constant
bombardment from Agdam where there
were a great number of long-range
weapons and launchers "Grad". To
ensure the safety of Stepanakert the
task to liquidate the military base
of Agdam was put before the armed
forces of Artsakh. On July 23, the
Karabaghian forces, having broken
down the resistance of the enemy,
who had thrown the main part of his
armed forces into this sector,
entered Agdam. This removed not only
the threat of systematic shelling of
the NKR capital, but also the threat
of further offensives on Askeran and
contiguous districts.
With the removal of this large
military base the Azerbaijani
leadership was compelled to come out
with the proposal to cease the fire.
On July 25, practically for the
first time during the conflict the
arrangement for a three days
armistice was achieved.
However, at the beginning of August
the situation rapidly changed. The
sustained attacks on the Karabakhi
positions resumed. They mainly were
carried on in the Jebrail direction.
Thanks to the skillful actions of
the self-defense forces in the
course of the counter-offensive
operations in that period a number
of military bases of the enemy were
destroyed. On August 16 from the
Azerbaijani town of Fizuly an
offensive was undertaken in the
direction of the southern borders of
the Martuni district and the eastern
border of the Gadrut district. The
military units of the NKR Defense
Army succeeded in not only defending
their positions, but also liberating
a number of the earlier occupied
villages in the south of the Gadrut
district.
In the second half of August the
fighting took place along the
Fisuly-Jebrail- Kubatly line. On the
22nd of August, the Azeri troops
were forced to leave the town of
Fisuly and the district of the same
name. In two days the Karabaghian
troops entered the district center
Djebrail and two days later took the
territory of the same named district
under their control. On August 26,
the Gadrut district territory of the
NKR was entirely liberated. On
August 29, the Azeri side made an
attempt to break through the
Karabakhi defensive positions to the
south of the Lachin Humanitarian
Corridor, but the subdivisions of
the NKR Army, throwing back the
enemy, embarked on a
counter-offensive and on August 31
entered the district center Kubatly.
On the same day an agreement on a
cease-fire for 10 days’ time was
signed between Azebaijan and the NKR
as well as an arrangement for a
meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan
and Nagorno-Karabagh on the 10th of
September.
However, the agreement did not give
a real result in the sense of
transferring the resolution of the
problem from a military into a
political channel. The relative
tranquillity at the front lasted
merely a month and a half. On the
night of the 10th of October
Azerbaijan resumed military
hostilities in the Gadrut sector of
the front. On October 21, the units
of the Azerbaijani Army began an
offensive in the Gadrut-Jebrail
direction as a result of which they
were able to capture a number of
strategic hills, again exposing the
safety of the population of the
settlement of Gadrut and adjacent
villages to threat. On October 24,
the NKR Self-defense Army troops
undertook a counter-offensive in the
southern direction of the front,
neutralizing a number of firing
points of the enemy, in particular
the inhabited locality of Choradis.
Having taken this military base, the
Karabaghian forces isolated the
Zangelan district, a part of the
Jebrail and the Kubatly districts
from the rest of Azerbaijan. On
November 1 in the morning the
fighting men of the Self-defense
Army took the district center
Zangelan together with the adjacent
populated points. From December 10
the Azerbaijani side three times
embarked on an offensive in the
southeastern sector of the front,
but on each occasion the Karabakh
army was able to repulse the enemy’s
attacks. On December 15, from the
bases of the Agdjabedy district in
Azebaijan there began massed
rocket-artillery shelling of the
populated points of the Martuni
district, including the town of
Martuni. On December 19, backed by
tanks and airpower the Azerbaijani
troops again attacked the
Karabaghian army positions in the
east of the Martuni district. The
NKR armed forces were able to stop
the offensive and on the night of
December 20 threw the enemy back to
the initial positions. On December
22, the positions of the Karabaghian
troops were subjected to artillery
shelling and in the southern-
eastern sector of the front as the
Azeri forces assumed a counter
offensive. For the whole of the next
day the enemy unsuccessfully tried
to break the defensive borders of
the Karabaghians along the front
line extending some 30 kilometers.
On December 26-27, the Azerbaijani
troops waged offensives in the
Mardakert, Martuni and Gadrut
directions, but they did not
succeeded in advancing. By the end
of 1993, the whole territory from
the railway junction of Khoradis to
the state border of Armenia had
passed under the control of the
Karabaghian side, which enable the
creation of an area of safety at the
southern borders of the NKR.
In this period the leadership of
Azerbaijan declared the mobilization
of all men from the age of 18-40
year old. In addition to complement
the Azerbaijani Army at the Karabakh
front there were engaged
mercenaries, including about 1.5
thousand mudjahiddins from
Afghanistan - the international
observers not once evidenced about
it. The participation of the
mercenaries in the war was confirmed
by personal papers, military maps,
letters and photos, dictionaries,
national currency, received by
Karabaghian military men as a
trophy.
1994
Early 1994 Azerbaijan made one more
attempt to take hold of the
situation, intensifying the
offensives on the full front. Hard
fighting was waged from the highland
Omar Pass as far as Araks. In spite
of serious losses the enemy did not
give up his plans. Withstanding the
defense and carrying on a number of
successful counter-offensives, the
NKR troops in early February started
liquidating the enemy’s bases in
Omar Pass area. On February 18, the
northern sector, including Omar
Pass, was entirely under the
Karabaghian forces control. Thus,
the Kelbajar district was entirely
occupied by the NKR Defense Army
troops. At the end of February and
at the beginning of March the main
fighting was deployed in the
southeastern sector of the front in
the direction of Ghoradis. The
enemy’s troops backed by armored
forces, artillery and aviation tried
to break the defense of the
Karabaghians by a frontal blow and
advance to Fisuly. But the latter
was able not only to defend its
positions but also to assume an
offensive in a number of sectors.
On April 10, in the course of the
counter offensives in the
northern-eastern front the armed
forces of the NKR took a number of
strategic heights in the sector
Gulistan- Talish. In the middle of
April the NKR Defense Army freed the
Armenian villages Talish, Chily,
Madagis and Levonarkh. The success
attended the Karabakh troops also in
the southern direction of the front.
By this time they were able to take
the main road Agdam-Barda under
their control. The military defeats
compelled Azerbaijan to accept the
Russian Federation’s proposal on
armistice. On May 5, under the
mediation of Russia, Kirgizia, and
the CIS Inter-Parliament Assembly in
the capital of Kirgizia Bishkek
Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh, and
Armenia signed the protocol, which
entered the history of the Karabakh
conflict settlement as the Bishkek
Protocol on base of which the
agreement on cease-fire was
achieved. On May 12, in Moscow to
shape the Bishkek agreements legally
there was a meeting of Defense
Minister of Armenia Serzh Sarkissian,
Defense Minister of Azebaijan
Mamedraffi Mamedov and the NKR
Defense Army Commander Samvel
Babayan, where an agreement on
cease-fire from 00 hours on May 17,
1994 was signed. The document was
also prepared, providing the
disengagement of the Karabakhi and
Azerbaijani troops, the establishing
of the buffer zone between the
parties and bringing peacemaking
forces into it. Defense Ministers of
the Russian Federation and Armenia
Pavel Grachev and Serge Sarkissian,
and the NKR Defense Army Commander
Samvel Babayan signed the document.
But Defense Minister of Azerbaijan
Mamedraffi Mamedov did not sign the
document. He was urgently summoned
to Baku. In spite of Azerbaijan’s
not signing the final protocol of
the Moscow agreement, in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area there
came the durable armistice.
* * * * *
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