The siege of Stepanakert started in late 1991, during the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in
Stepanakert, the largest city in
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...
, when the Azerbaijani forces circled the city. Until May 1992, the city and its
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
population were the target of a months-long campaign of bombardment by
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
. The bombardment of Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian towns and villages, which took place under the conditions of total blockade by Azerbaijan, caused widespread destruction and many civilian deaths.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
reported that the main bases used by
Azerbaijani Armed Forces
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces ( az, Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri) were re-established according to the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Armed Forces from 9 October 1991. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) had originally formed ...
for the bombardment of Stepanakert included the towns of
Khojaly and
Shusha
/ hy, Շուշի
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg
, image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...
. Azerbaijani forces used weapons such as the
BM-21 Grad
The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first com ...
multiple-launch rocket systems. The indiscriminate shelling, sniper shooting and aerial attacks killed or maimed hundreds of civilians and destroyed homes, hospitals and other buildings that were not
legitimate military target
A legitimate military target is an object, structure, individual, or entity that is considered to be a valid target for attack by belligerent forces according to the law of war during an armed conflict.
Overview
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventi ...
s, and generally terrorized the civilian population. As a result of the offensive launched by Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 40,000 people became refugees and dozens of villages were burnt and ruined.
According to
Memorial Human Rights Center, the residential areas of both
Stepanakert and
Shusha
/ hy, Շուշի
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg
, image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...
were shelled on a regular basis with the use of artillery and rocket launchers. There were more destruction and casualties in Stepanakert than in Shusha, which could be explained by location of
Stepanakert in the lowland and much higher intensity of shelling from Shusha due to Azerbaijan's capture of
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
depots in
Aghdam and other locales with more than 11,000 wagons full of rockets, including those for
BM-21
The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first comba ...
MLRS
A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a voll ...
.
The siege of the city stopped only after the
capture of Shusha
The Battle of Shusha) and by Azerbaijanis as the Occupation of Shusha ( az, Şuşanın işğalı) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically i ...
by Armenian forces on May 8–9, 1992.
Background
Stepanakert, or Khankendi, is a city located on
Karabakh Plateau
The Karabakh Plateau or Syunik Plateau ( hy, Սյունիքի բարձրավանդակ, translit=Syuniki bardzravandak, az, Qarabağ yaylası) is a volcanic plateau of the Lesser Caucasus, in Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the most eastern point of ...
at the center of the
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...
, a mountainous and
landlocked region situated in the
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
. Although the Armenian sources state that the settlement was first mentioned as ''Vararakn'' (, meaning "rapid spring"), named after the river flowing through it, the Azerbaijani references generally say that the settlement was founded in the late eighteenth century as a private residence for khans of the
Karabakh Khanate
The Karabakh Khanate was a semi-independent Turkic peoples, Turkic Khanates of the Caucasus, Caucasian khanate on the territories of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan established in about 1748 under Safavid dynasty, Iranian suzerainty in Karaba ...
, and was thus called ''Khankendi'' (, literally "the khan's village").
After the
establishment of the Soviet authority, Khankendi was renamed Stepanakert (, literally "the city of Stepan") by the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijani SSR, dated August 10, 1923, to honour
Stepan Shaumian
Stepan Georgevich Shaumian (; , ''Step’an Ge'vorgi Shahumyan''; 1 October 1878 – 20 September 1918) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician active throughout the Caucasus. Arzumanyan, M. Շահումյան, Ստեփան Գևորգի. ...
, leader of the
26 Baku Commissars
The 26 Baku Commissars were Bolshevik and Left Socialist Revolutionary (SR) members of the Baku Commune. The commune was established in the city of Baku, which was then the capital of the briefly independent Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and ...
. After that, Stepanakert was made the capital of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...
(NKAO) and gradually became a chief city for the Armenians in the region. According to the
1979 Soviet census, the city had a population of 38,980 people, mostly of Armenians, who constituted 87% of the total population, and more than four thousand Azerbaijanis.
In September 1988, a
mass looting and
pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
took place, directed against the ethnic
Azerbaijani population of the city, known as the
Stepanakert pogrom
The 1988 violence in Shusha and Stepanakert was the expulsion of the ethnic Armenian population of Shusha and the ethnic Azerbaijani population of Stepanakert, in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in the Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union, fro ...
. As a result, the city's Azerbaijani population fled the city.
Blockade
Azerbaijan blockaded railroad lines and the delivery of oil and natural gas to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh since 1989. Since the fall of 1991 the imposed blockade became full and continuous. The blockades shattered the Armenian economy, sparked social unrest and created a devastating humanitarian crisis. Throughout the spring of 1992, Stepanakert (which had fifty five thousand inhabitants) was under siege – Azerbaijan had cut all the land communication between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Stepanakert had no access by road to Armenia for almost two years and its only link to the outside world was by helicopter across the mountains to Armenia. Thus many of its residents had been virtually trapped there all that time.
As a result of tightening of the blockade by Azerbaijan all essential supplies, including water, electricity, food and medicines were virtually cut off. The Armenians living in Stepanakert had to spend almost the whole time sheltering in basements and cellars in appalling conditions. According to Human Rights Watch,
[Bloodshed in the Caucasus: escalation of the armed conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. 1992, page 12; 34]
It was in these conditions of total blockade that Azerbaijan subjected Stepanakert to shelling and bombardment.
[Caroline Cox and John Eibner (1993)]
''Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh''
Zürich; Washington: Institute for Religious Minorities in the Islamic World.
The siege
During the winter of 1991–92,
Stepanakert was hit by artillery and aerial bombardment by Azerbaijani forces. In May 1992, when
Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch was a private American non-governmental organization established by Robert L. Bernstein in 1978, designed to monitor the former Soviet Union's compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Expanding in size and scope, Helsinki Watch b ...
arrived to
Stepanakert, the city had already suffered heavy destruction. On August 22–24 alone, Azerbaijani bombings had caused at least 40 civilian deaths and left 100 people wounded.
Helsinki Watch's report stated that the "Azerbaijani shelling and bombing were reckless and indiscriminate, and aimed at terrorizing and forcing out Armenian civilians. Like previous Azerbaijani attacks on
Stepanakert, the shelling and bombing throughout the counter-offensive and beyond destroyed or damaged scores of homes and sometimes entire villages." According to
Caroline Cox
Caroline Anne Cox, Baroness Cox, (née McNeill Love; born 6 July 1937) is a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords. She is also the founder of an organisation called Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART). Cox was created a Life Peer ...
, "I used to count 400 Grad missiles every day pounding in on Stepanakert." The shelling aimed to intimidate and oust the Armenian civilian population from Karabakh and to take military control. In the words of the State Secretary of Azerbaijan in 1992 Lala-Shovket Gajiyeva, "For more than 100 days we were shelling Stepanakert, but the Armenians did not abandon their land".
David Atkinson, a member of the
Council of Europe, reminded PACE that he visited Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, and added that he "will never forget" the Azerbaijani bombing of
Stepanakert during a report on January 25, 2005, during the PACE winter session.
Geographically Stepanakert lay in the most vulnerable position, with Aghdam 15 miles to the East, Khojaly to the North and Shusha to the South. The Azeri controlled towns of Shusha and Khojaly were overlooking Stepanakert and were used as main bases for shelling and bombing the capital. Helsinki Watch writes, "While Azerbaijani forces held the town of Shusha, which overlooks Stepanakert, they pounded the latter with Grads and heavy artillery fire, hitting civilians, residential areas, hospitals, and the like... Russian pilot Anatolii Chistiakov said that the Azerbaijanis routinely ask mercenary pilots to drop tear gas to cause panic among civilians."
The mainstay artillery platforms used in the bombardment, which began on January 10, 1992 and lasted for 4 months, was the Soviet built
BM-21 GRAD
The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first com ...
multiple rocket launcher
A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a volle ...
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 well-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 Azerbaijani Army used it to shell civilians in a densely populated capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Dubbed "flying telephone poles" due to their long, thin shape, the missiles caused devastating damage to buildings including the destruction of residential houses, schools, the city's silk factory, maternity hospital and at least one kindergarten.
On May 31, 1992, the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' wrote:
Armenian response
By May 1992,
Shusha
/ hy, Շուշի
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg
, image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...
was the only Azerbaijani-controlled area near Stepanakert during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, which was used to launch GRAD missiles into Stepanakert's neighborhoods. Almost all of the civilian population of
Karabakh
Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and ...
was concentrated in Stepanakert after leaving due to the battle zone, and even poorly aimed bombing by Azerbaijani aircraft resulted in heavy losses of civilians. Karabakh's self-defense forces retaliated, and in two days of fighting captured Shusha the last Azerbaijani inhabited area in Nagorno-Karabakh. Thus they gained control over Nagorno-Karabakh, which brought an end to shelling and bombardment of Stepanakert, the capital of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former N ...
.
Daily bombardment by Azerbaijan's Grad missiles and attacks on Goris and Kapan caused thousands of civilian and military deaths, and massive property destruction. Bombs had been constantly directed towards Stepanakert, until the
capture of Shusha
The Battle of Shusha) and by Azerbaijanis as the Occupation of Shusha ( az, Şuşanın işğalı) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically i ...
, on May 8, 1992.
The town of
Khojaly was on the road from
Shusha
/ hy, Շուշի
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline = ShushaCollection2021.jpg
, image_caption = Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govha ...
and Stepanakert to
Aghdam and had the region's only airport. The airport was of vital importance for the survival of the population in Karabakh, which had no land connection with Armenia and was under a total blockade by Azerbaijan. According to reports from
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
, Khojaly was used as a base for Azerbaijani forces for shelling the city of Stepanakert. In February 1992 Karabakh self-defence forces captured Khojalu as this was the only way to stop the bombardment of Stepanakert from Khojalu and to breake the blockade.
International reactions
The United States Congress condemned Azerbaijan's blockade and aggression against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh passing
amendment N: 907 to the Freedom Support Act (1992) which banned the US direct support to the government of Azerbaijan. The bill namely stated:
Human rights organisation
Christian Solidarity International
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is a Christian human rights NGO that is "committed to defending religious liberty, helping victims of religious repression, victimized children, and victims of disaster." It is based in Switzerland, with a ...
(CSI) in its report on the First Nagorno-Karabakh War concludes that Azerbaijan was the primary aggressor and initiator of the Karabakh war because Azerbaijan 1) organized forcible deportations of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, 2) imposed a blockade on Karabakh and Armenia, 3) used heavy military force and bombarded the civilian areas. The report also states,
Helsinki Watch
A delegation of members from
Helsinki Watch
Helsinki Watch was a private American non-governmental organization established by Robert L. Bernstein in 1978, designed to monitor the former Soviet Union's compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Expanding in size and scope, Helsinki Watch b ...
had gone to Stepanakert for two days.
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
had said that Stepanakert was constantly attacked by Azerbaijanis, starting around 1991, in October. The Helinski Watch members had gone around the city and had observed the widespread damage and photographed many damages to civilian areas. The delegation also noticed that almost every apartment in Stepanakert's western side, had been hit by shelling.
Representatives of Helsinki Watch, had photographed the complete destruction of a hospital, and also school buildings in parts of the city.
The Helsinki Watch concluded in their ''Annual Report'' that Azerbaijani forces had "pounded the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, Stepanakert, and other Armenian towns and villages with shells and grenades. The indiscriminate shelling and sniper shooting killed or maimed hundreds of civilians, destroyed homes, hospitals and other objects that are not legitimate military targets."
Journalists' accounts
Vanora Bennett
Vanora Bennett (born 1962) is a British author and journalist.
Biography
Bennett grew up in London, the eldest daughter of the flute player William Bennett and the cellist Rhuna Martin, and read Russian and French at the University of Oxford. ...
, British reporter,
Journalist Vadim Byrkin,
The ''
Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' reported,
Anzhelika Chechina, Russian Journalist and Human Rights Activist:
''Los Angeles Times'' reporter John-Thor Dahlburg:
''Chicago Tribune'' reporter Michael McGuire:
The UK ''Daily Telegraph'':
Russian writer and human rights activist Inessa Burkova:
Russian journalist Galina Kovalskaya
See also
*
Capture of Shusha
The Battle of Shusha) and by Azerbaijanis as the Occupation of Shusha ( az, Şuşanın işğalı) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically i ...
*
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
*
Sumgait pogrom (1988)
*
Kirovabad pogrom
The Kirovabad pogrom or the pogrom of Kirovabad was an Azeri-led ethnic cleansing that targeted Armenians living in the city of Kirovabad (today called Ganja) in Soviet Azerbaijan during November 1988.
Pogrom
An unidentified Armenian press ed ...
(1988)
*
Pogrom of Armenians in Baku
The Baku pogrom ( hy, Բաքվի ջարդեր, ) was a pogrom directed against the ethnic Armenian inhabitants of Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. From January 12, 1990, a seven-day pogrom broke out against the Armenian civilian population in Baku during ...
(1990)
*
Operation Ring (1991)
*
Maraga Massacre (1992)
*
Anti-Armenian sentiment in Azerbaijan
Notes
References
External links
Indiscriminate Bombing and Shelling by Azerbaijani Forces in Nagorno KarabakhMemories of Stepanakert: Karabakhi reporter compares to nights in the NKR capitalAzerbaijan's continuing siege of Stepanakert (Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh) by British journalist Russell PollardLife Goes Underground in a Capital Under Siege : Nagorno-Karabakh: Frightened citizens find refuge in cramped spaces beneath buildings as battles continue.February 25, 1992 by John-Thor Dahlburg, Los Angeles Times
{{Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Stepanakert
Stepanakert
Conflicts in 1991
Conflicts in 1992
1991 in Azerbaijan
1992 in Azerbaijan
1991 in Armenia
1992 in Armenia
Battles involving the Republic of Artsakh
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
1991 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
1992 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Anti-Armenianism
Azerbaijani war crimes
War crimes in Azerbaijan
Anti-Armenianism in Azerbaijan