Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev said on Sunday that his troops had captured the strategic city of Shusha in the breakaway republic of Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia immediately denying it while admitting that the fighting was raging there.
“With great pride and joy, I inform you that the city of Shusha has been liberated,” said Mr. Aliev, during a televised address to the nation.
He said that November 8 “will go down in the history of the Azerbaijani people” as the day “when we returned to Shusha”.
Heavy fighting has been going on for several days in this city nicknamed the “Jerusalem of Nagorno Karabakh”, which opens the road to the separatist capital Stepanakert and is also of very strong cultural importance for Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Armenia, which supports the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh, has denied President Aliyev’s assertions, assuring that “the fight continues” for the city.
“During the night, fierce fighting broke out in the vicinity of Shusha,” Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Chouchan Stepanian previously said on Twitter.
The Armenian government for its part affirmed that “intense and decisive fighting continues for (the control of) Shusha”, assuring that the capture of the city was “an unrealizable illusory dream for Azerbaijan”.
“Despite heavy damage, the fortress city withstood the blows of the adversary,” he added.
Set on top of a mountain, Choucha is 15 km from Stepanakert and is located on a vital road connecting the separatist capital with Armenia.
Fighting since the end of September between Azerbaijan and separatists supported by Armenia for the control of Nagorno Karabakh, a region which had seceded from Baku during a war in the 1990s.
These new fights are the most violent in nearly thirty years and have left more than 1,250 dead, but the number of victims is probably much higher, Azerbaijan in particular not communicating its military losses.