Capture of Shusha The Capture of Shusha , referred to as the Liberation of Shushi by Armenians ( ) and Occupation of Shusha 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 Shusha ( known as " Shushi " to Armenians ) 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 . It was named " Wedding in the Mountains " by the Armenian commandership . The seizure of the town proved decisive . Shusha 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 . Background . 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 jet s and helicopter gunship s 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 Shusha . Early skirmishes . Shusha is located on a mountaintop and overlooks the NKR highly populated capital , Stepanakert ( just 5 km away ) , from an elevation of 600m . An old fortress with high walls , the town is five kilometers ( four miles ) to the south of Stepanakert and perched on a mountaintop with limited vehicular access to reach it . From a geographical standpoint it was well - suited for Azerbaijani shelling of Stepanakert . The mainstay artillery platform used in the bombardment , which began on January 10 , 1992 , was the Soviet built BM - 21 GRAD multiple rocket launcher capable of firing 40 rockets simultaneously , a modern variant of the widely used World War II weapon , the Katyusha . The GRAD launcher was similar to the Katyusha in that it did not have a guided missile system and hence the location of where it would hit was difficult to determine . Essentially , Grad is designed to deliver anti - personnel devastation on an open battlefield , while the Azerbaijanis used it to shell civilians in a highly populated capital of Nagorno - Karabakh . Dubbed " flying telephone poles " due to their long , shaped charges , the missiles caused devastating damage to buildings including the destruction of residential houses , schools , the city ' s silk factory and maternity hospital . On December 12 , 1991 , M . Gozalov , the head of the raion ' s executive was assassinated . On December 27 of the same year Armenian forces occupied the Azerbaijani settlement Karkicahan near Stepanakert , killing a number of people . Those who survived fled , or were evacuated to Shusha . A few days later , on January 28 , Armenian forces shot down a transport helicopter over the village of Khyalfyali , which was carrying more than 40 women , children and the elderly from Shusha . The pilot guided the stricken plane away from the populated areas , but couldn ’ t save any of the passengers or himself and his crew . On January 23 , 1992 , Azerbaijan ' s defense minister T . Mekhtiyev arrived to Shusha and tried to retain the nearby village of Dashalty , which the Armenians were using as a fortified position . The reciprocal Azeri shelling had begun . Shusha was the main fire point from where Stepanakert was assaulted . Once the region ' s Communist Party headquarters and largest city with a population of 70 , 000 , the fighting and shelling had driven away nearly 20 , 000 of Stepanakert ' s residents and forced the remainder to live underground in basements . By one tally recorded in early April , a total of 157 rockets had landed on the city in a single day . By early 1992 the bombing intensified . In a course of one week the city was bombed with over 1 , 000 shells ( 800 of which were reactive shells ) . This left 20 civilians dead . On February 23 , ten servicemen in the Russia n - led CIS 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment ( of the 23rd Motor Rifle Division , 4th Army ) headquartered in Stepanakert , tasked with maintaining peace between the Armenians and Azeris , were injured and one was killed in a bombardment by the artillery units . Altogether , over 2 , 000 civilians were killed and thousands more injured in the bombardment in 1992 ; moreover , the city ' s infrastructure was completely severed with the destruction of sewage networks , water pipes , gas and electricity . In an article filed by a journalist for " Time " , it was noted that " scarcely a single building [ had ] escaped damage in Stepanakert . " In addition to the shelling , the Azeri military also launched air raids and staged several ground attacks on the outskirts of Stepanakert in hopes of later moving on to capture the city itself . While they were staved off numerous times , the city ' s leaders complained that military action had to be taken to relieve it from the continuous bombardment . On April 27 , the military leaders ' plans were approved to move in and capture the town . The battle . Preparation . Planning for the military operation began under the auspices of Colonel - General Gurgen Daribaltayan with guidance from Arkady Ter - Tadevosyan . All of the military factors were in favor of the Azeri Army . The Azeris had advantage in terms of the quantity and the quality of military equipment ; they held a numerical superiority ; and also held the high ground and , due to the strategic position of Shusha , the town could be easily defended . Therefore , a direct attack by Armenian forces was not a viable option for Daribaltayan . Furthermore , according to military conventions and practices , for the operation to be successful , the attacking party should outnumber the defenders by at least 3 – 4 times ( even more when attacking an elevation ) , while the NKR Detachments simply did not have such manpower at the time . Instead , in conjunction with the commander who would lead the troops into Shusha , Arkady " Komandos " Ter - Tatevosyan , they devised a strategy of launching several diversionary attacks against the adjacent villages to draw out the defenders of the town . In the meantime , the forces would encircle and cut off the town from further reinforcements . However , there was considerable Russian military support for the Armenians during the attack on the city . Order of battle . The plan was put together in March – April 1992 , after the intelligence data about the location , positions and the number of the rival forces had been finalized . By the commission of L . Martirosov , a model of Shusha area was made , enabling the commanders to define their actions and directions . The plan was developed in top secrecy . On April 28 the main directions of the operation , the commanders , the resources at hand were finalized and defined . The military order of Shusha seizure was signed on May 4 , 1992 with the following details : " 1 . The enemy holds the surrounding positions " " 2 . Our task is : " " After regrouping of forces to advance to Lisagor and Zarslu and to immediately start the attack in four directions : " " To defeat the enemy from Stepanakert side at three Shushi edges , then to destroy the enemy and liberate Shushi . " Prior to the launch of the offensive against the Shusha citadel , Ter - Tatevosyan ' s forces had been concentrating an artillery barrage from several directions for several weeks in order to " soften up " the town ' s defenses . Since late February , the Azeri military had been reinforcing Shusha ' s ridge and ammunition , and had been shuttling in helicopters in order to evacuate the town ' s civilian population . The attack was to start on May 4 , but for various reasons ( lack of ammunition , adverse weather conditions , etc . ) it was delayed . By May 8 , Armenian forces had amassed a force of nearly 1 , 000 fighters to storm Shusha . The offensive . In the twilight hours of May 8 , Ter - Tatevosyan directed his forces to assail Shusha from different directions and attack its flanks and its rear so as to avoid the ridge facing Stepanakert which was the town ' s most easily defendable location . The force was divided into 5 companies , 4 of which ( under command of Arkady Karapetyan , Valery Chechyan , Samvel Babayan and Seyran Ohanyan ) would attack from different directions , and the 5th ( under command of Yura Ovanisyan ) would remain as reserve in case any of the groups needed immediate reinforcement . The primary contingent of the attacking force was made up primarily on foot infantry but was complemented by at least four tanks and two attack helicopters . Amongst the Armenians who took part in the taking of the town was the future President of Armenia , Robert Kocharyan . Entrenched in Shusha was the Azeri commander Elbrus Orujev who commanded a force of several hundred men and tanks . Due to the proximity of the attacking forces , the GRAD launchers were largely useless in their role of defending the town . Orujev ' s forces troops managed to initially fend off the Armenians who were already scaling the town ' s cliffs . Orjuev ' s men were bolstered by a Chechen volunteer contingent led by guerrilla warlord Shamil Basayev who were among the last to leave the city . By mid - day , the fighting in Shusha escalated into a full - scale engagement , as both sides were involved in fierce combat amidst Shusha ' s battered streets and near its communications tower . A famous encounter took place between the two sides when an Armenian T - 72 tank , the first to enter Shusha , encountered its Azeri counterpart on the northern approach of the town . As the two exchanged fire the Armenian tank , manned by Gagik Avsharyan , was hit by several rounds from the opposing T - 72 and knocked out of commission . Avsharyan ' s tank was armed with obsolete HEAT rounds that were ineffective against the armor of the other tank . Two of the tank ' s crew members were killed but Avsharyan survived . By the evening of May 8 , Armenian forces destroyed three of the GRAD launchers and captured the remainder of the battery . Within several hours , the defenders were forced to retreat to the town ' s southernmost tip . By May 9 the Armenian forces were firmly in control of Shusha . At the battle - scarred Ghazanchetsots Cathedral they discovered that the Azeris had converted the church into a storage area for the GRAD ammunition . Overwhelmed by the attacking force , Orujev ordered his forces to retreat and abandon the citadel . Casualty counts were estimated to have been over a hundred on both sides . After capture of the town , many Armenians came to the city for looting . Marauders and vandals burnt much of the city to the ground . Political fallout . Writer Markar Melkonian , brother of Nagorno Karabakh commander Monte Melkonian , would later write that " the capture of Shusha would go down in the annals of local lore as the most glorious victory " in the first half of the war . The capture of Shusha ushered many Armenians living in Stepanakert and elsewhere in Karabakh to supplant the majority Azeri population living there before the battle . Several days following the offensive , Armenian forces launched an attack in the region of Lachin and opened up a five mile corridor connecting the enclave to Armenia proper . The offensive prompted two attacks by Azerbaijan ' s military . One was concentrated on taking back Shusha on on May 11 and the other was further south in Martuni . Despite earlier claims made by Azerbaijan ' s defense ministry to having taken back Shusha , the offensive had failed . In the Armenian defended front of Martuni , Armenian forces also turned back a retaliatory Azeri offensive while at the same time inflicting heavy losses . On the day of the Armenian victory , Armenian president Levon Ter - Petrosyan and then acting Azerbaijani president Yagub Mamedov were present in Tehran , Iran to sign a cease - fire agreement . News of the Armenian offensive led Mamedov to charge that Armenia had already failed to honor the cease - fire . Ter - Petrossian however contested that he was unable to control what the Armenians in Karabakh were planning . The loss of Shusha later led to mass demonstrations in Azerbaijan ' s capital of Baku against newly reinstated president Ayaz Mütallibov . Charged for failing to defend the cities of Shusha on 9th and later Lachin on 18th , he was forced to step down . Many Azeris were in a state of affliction and disbelief due to the loss : the town had been the birthplace for Azeri composers , poets and musicians and many felt that the town ' s capture had been betrayed or sold for political purposes . In a television interview in 2000 , Basayev discounted these theories and contended that the town ' s defenders had simply abandoned their positions . After the war ended , Avsharyan ' s T - 72 tank was recovered and repaired and currently stands as a monument in Shusha . May 9 is now celebrated in Armenia and the Nagorno - Karabakh Republic as the " The Day of the NKR ’ s Defence Army " and " The Day of Liberation of Shushi . " A commendation medal was also awarded by the government to those Armenians who participated in the battle . The city has become one of the central items involved in the negotiating process in peace talks since the war ended in 1994 . Turkey ' s involvement . Armenia ' s western neighbor , Turkey , took umbrage after Armenian troops had captured the town . Süleyman Demirel , Turkey ' s prime minister said that he was coming under intense pressure by the Turkish people to send military help to Azerbaijan . The two peoples are ethnically and culturally related . Demirel however decided not to heed their calls partly because the commander of the CIS forces based in Caucasus , Yevgeny Shaposhnikov had warned that such an incursion would lead to " the verge of a third world war , and that cannot be allowed . " The Armenian victory in Shusha had many Turkish officials accusing Armenia itself of seeking to invade the Azeri exclave of Nakhichevan . Because of international pressure Turkey was ostensibly restricted to providing economic support to Azerbaijan . Nonetheless , the Turkish army and intelligence services launched undercover operations to supply Azerbaijan with arms and military personnel . According to Turkish sources , over 350 high - ranking officers and thousands of volunteers from Turkey participated in the warfare on the Azerbaijani side . Western authors reported several major shipments of weapons from Turkey , including bringing an arsenal of Soviet - made arms from former German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) . Simultaneously , Turkey was engaged in overt intimidation of Armenia . On the international stage it lobbied various organizations and promoted a pro - Azerbaijani bent of mediation and conflict resolution efforts . Turkish diplomats organized " Turkic Summits " for Turkic nations that included Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan to convince the leaders of the Central Asian countries to sever economic ties with Armenia and condemn its military involvement in Nagorno Karabakh . The fifteenth anniversary . On May 9 , 2007 , Armenia and the NKR celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the town ' s capture . The festivities included a military parade in Renaissance Square in Stepanakert and a cross - country marathon organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation ' s youth wing that began from Armenia and ended in Shusha during the run up to May 9 . During the processions , then president of the NKR Arkadi Ghukasyan , reiterated the point that the citizens of the republic would have the final say over their future . The parade was headed by the Nagorno - Karabakh Defense Army ' s first deputy commander , Major General Movses Hakobyan . Attendants of it included veterans of the battle and the Nagorno - Karabakh war and veterans from the Second World War since May 9 also marks Victory in Europe day . In Armenia , prime minister Serzh Sargsyan inaugurated the naming of a square in the capital of Yerevan after Shusha .