Azeris celebrated in the streets of Baku after President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that his country’s forces had taken Shusha, the second-largest city in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, but Armenian officials denied that the city had been captured.
Shusha, which Armenians call Shushi, is of cultural and strategic importance to both sides and is located 15 km (9 miles) south of the enclave’s largest city, Stepanakert.
At least 1,000 people have died in nearly six weeks of fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.
“(This day) will become a great day in the history of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said, announcing that Baku troops had taken Shusha / Shushi.
In Baku, Azeris gathered in great numbers to celebrate, waving flags and chanting slogans, while drivers honked their car horns.
Officials from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian Defense Ministry denied Aliyev’s statement.
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“Shushi remains an unattainable chimera for Azerbaijan. Despite the great destruction, the fortress city resists the blows of the enemy, ”said the Nagorno-Karabakh Rescue Service.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said heavy fighting is continuing for the strategic site, while the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army said they had repelled multiple attempts by the Azerbaijani side to advance on the city.
Emboldened by Turkish support, Azerbaijan has the upper hand in the bloodiest fighting in more than 25 years in the southern Caucasus. In just over a month, it has reclaimed much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a previous war for territory in the 1990s.
Turkish leaders congratulated Azerbaijan on Sunday.
“I congratulate the Shusha victory of my Azeri brothers. I think it is a sign that the rest of the occupied lands will also be liberated soon, ”said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, addressing the crowds in the Kocaeli province of northwestern Turkey.
The city could serve as a key starting point for an Azeri assault on the enclave’s largest city, Stepanakert. Both have come under heavy bombardment in recent days. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that the accusations that it had bombed civilian areas were “disinformation”.
The city is also culturally significant for both sides, said Thomas de Waal, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Its population was predominantly composed of Azeris before the previous conflict, which makes it historically significant for Azerbaijan. For Armenians, it is the site of the Karabakh cathedral, de Waal said.
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