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**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 12:44 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1989:

January 12, 1989: The USSR Supreme Soviet decides to keep NKAO under Azerbaijani jurisdiction. The Supreme Soviet also forms a Special Commission to directly govern the region.

August 16, 1989: The Armenians of NKAO form their own National Council.

August 19, 1989: The New York Times reports (in an article filed from Barda, Azerbaijan) that a bus full of Armenians from Mir-Bashir to Stepanakert was violently attacked by Azerbaijani youth and had to be rescued by Soviet troops. New York Times, 9/17/89

August 20, 1989: Moscow home service reports that traffic to Nagorno-Karabagh is completely cut off by an Azerbaijani-imposed blockade.

November 28, 1989: The USSR Supreme Soviet removes NKAO�s special administrative status, reinstating Azerbaijani direct rule.

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 12:51 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1990:

January 1990: Azeri Forces begin to use the heights of Khojalu as a missile launching point upon the nearby Armenian inhabited areas of Askeran and Getashen.

January 13, 1990: Azerbaijani mobs descend upon the Armenian districts of Baku, killing more than 100 Armenians. Thousands of others are raped, wounded, and otherwise assaulted. Tens of thousands of Armenian homes are broken into and plundered. Virtually all remaining Armenians � from a previous figure of a quarter million � are driven out of the city.

January 14, 1990: Anti-Armenian rallies are held in cities throughout Azerbaijan, including Sumgait, Masally, Aksu, Divichi, Aghdam, Belokani, Zakataly, Sabirabad, Pushkino, Mingechaur, and Kusari.

February 14, 1990: According to Interior Ministry Major-General Yevgeny Nechayev, quoted in Komsomolskaya Pravda, corpses have been found buried in a grave and in a sandpit, about 30 miles apart, in northwestern Azerbaijan. Authorities announce they have found six more mutilated corpses in Azerbaijan, bringing to 18 the total discovered in two separate graves earlier in the week. Eleven of the 12 earlier victims, found in Yenikend, were described as handicapped Armenians who had disappeared from the Ganja State Invalids� Home on January 24, 1990. Each of the bodies had numerous bullet and knife wounds. Nechayev did not identify the last six by nationality. The Ganja victims appeared to have died after the anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku.

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 12:58 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1991:

April 30, 1991: In a massive attack, Soviet forces succeed in taking over the Armenian inhabited villages of Gedashen and Martunashen. The Russian-Azeri alliance results in the capture of many prisoners.

May 1, 1991: A Moskovsky Novosti correspondent in Getashen, a town in the Shahumian region, reports seeing with his own eyes the bodies of men and women floating in pools of blood. Many of these ‘‘had had their ears chopped off and their faces slashed beyond recognition.’’ Almost all of them had their throats slit from ear to ear, he reports. In a house [evidently used as a hospital], the journalist saw a scalped corpse and a little girl sitting beside a dismembered woman’s body. Many people had bullet wounds, mostly in the arms and legs. The journalist was also an eyewitness to the shelling by heavy guns of another Armenian village, Martunashen.

May 7, 1991: Joint attacks by Soviet and Azerbaijani OMON (Interior Ministry police special forces) succeed in overrunning the villages of Getashen and Martunashen. Armenians there are ethnically cleansed, and 53 prisoners are taken to nearby Ganja. Some of the prisoners are eventually released as part of a swap after Armenian fighters manage to capture 16 Russian soldiers. BBC, 5/22/91

May 13, 1991: Soviet Fourth Army troops surround the village of Aragiul. As a pretext for the mass deportation of the village’s 233 Armenians, Azerbaijani special forces arrive to check residence papers and search for armed Armenian militants. Newsday, 5/28/91

July 2-4, 1991: Azerbaijani OMON troops, supported by USSR Internal Affairs Ministry forces, shell, overrun, and loot Armenian villages in Nagorno-Karabagh under the pretext of conducting searches. Atrocities are perpetrated against Armenians in Martuni, Vosketevan, Vank, and Arakadzor; property, money, and valuables are pillaged and looted. BBC, 7/8/91

July 13-14, 1991: Azerbaijani Interior Ministry forces, with the support of sub-units of the USSR MVD Internal Troops and the 23rd Division of the Soviet Fourth Army, forcibly deport Armenians from the villages of Manashid and Buzlukh in the Shahumian region. Women and children flee to neighboring Armenian villages, and the men hide in nearby forests. Azerbaijani troops enter the villages and pillage Armenian property. Agence France Presse, 7/15/91

October 4, 1991: The Armenian village of Khramort in the Askeran region of Nagorno-Karabagh is shelled by some 40 missiles, fired from the direction of the city of Aghdam in the adjoining Azerbaijani region of the same name. BBC, 10/17/91

December 10, 1991: In a public referendum, 99% of Karabagh Armenians vote in favor of the creation of an independent Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR). The legislature ratifies independence on January 6, 1992.

December 16-17, 1991: “Alazan” missiles and mortar shells rain down on the capital, Stepanakert, from the heights of Shushi and Kirkijan, overlooking the city. Scores are killed or wounded. Over 80% of the city is hit by the continuous shelling.

December 29, 1991: Backed by armor, 18 Azerbaijani battalions head toward Nagorno-Karabagh. Azerbaijani troops have increased their shelling of Armenian villages since Soviet Interior Ministry troops started their pullout from the newly declared republic. The Independent (London), 12/30/91

April 30, 1991, 35 Armenians were killed in southwest Azerbaijan when Azeri troops tried to disarm the local population. The Azeri government claimed they were just checking passports. Armenians in NKAO were slowly arming themselves and even trying to capture lands outside of the NKAO borders in order to create a buffer zone. The USSR and Azerbaijan condenmed the acts as "aggression" and solely blamed Armenia for encouraging the rebels. On May 9, 1991, Armenian villages of Uzlu and Maraxxxx in Azerbaijan were being fired upon by Soviet and Azerbaijani artillery in anticipation of an Armenian attack. Other outlining villages with a Armenian majority were being disarmed by the Azerbaijani army. In mid 1991, western journalists noted that over a 1000 Armenians were being rounded up and arrested under the pretext of passport controls. Armenian government complained that this was being done to depopulate and weaken NKAO in case of all out war. May 27, 1991 Soviet security forces began firing on Armenians in the Azerbaijani Shaumyan region and south of NK. Over a period of three days five Armenians were killed. By mid summer Gorbachev lifted the state of emergency in NK but Azerbajani forces began to attack Armenian villages. By November 1991, 10,000 Armenians were deported, four Azeris were burned to death in NKAO, and minor battles were being fought.

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 01:17 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

Operation Ring

In the spring of 1991, the Azeri-Turks embarked on a new type of offensive against the Armenians living in the Autonomous Region of Nagomo Karabakh and in the Shaumyan district to the north. It was called 'Operation Ring'.

Military forces of the 23rd Division of the Soviet 4th Army stationed in Azerbaijan joined in combined operations with Azerbaijani Ministry of Interior (OMON, or 'black beret' forces) to undertake systematic deportations of Armenians.

'Operation Ring' started in late April 1991 with the villages of Getashen and Martunashen. These names will be seared onto the memory of Armenians alongside Baku and Sumgait for the brutality of the suffering inflicted on their people. The operations, carried out against vulnerable villagers, were remarkable for their ferocity. The pattern established in Getashen and Martunashen was later repeated against other villages in the Shaumyan district and elsewhere in Nagomo Karabakh.

Typically, the deportation exercise would begin with Soviet 4th Army troops surrounding the villages with tanks and armoured personnel carriers; military helicopters would hover low overhead. Once the village was surrounded by Soviet troops, the Azerbaijani OMON would move in and start harassing the villagers. They would round up men, women and children, usually on a pretext such as a 'passport check'. Many acts of brutality were committed: men were assaulted and killed; women were raped, children maltreated; civilians abducted as hostages.

Azeri-Turk citizens from nearby villages would come with pick-up trucks and cars, looting, pillaging and stealing everything from household goods to livestock. The Armenian villagers were then driven off their land, being forced to live as displaced people either elsewhere in Nagono Karabakh or in Armenia.
As a result of these actions in Karabagh and Armenian villigeas near the border of Armenia have lost more than 500 people, over 100 were killed and several hundred more were taken hostages.

http://www.armenians.com/Genocide/Getashen/index.html

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 01:21 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 01:34 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1992:
(Azeris beaten out of Artsakh)

February of 1992 began with promises of peace. However on the 24th, two days after a cease-fire agreement, fighting escalated in Agdam, Khojaly, Gyandzha. 20 people were killed in an Azerbaijani missle attack on Askeran. At this point, officials in Nagorno-Karabagh wanted to create a "buffer-zone" in the surrounding villages of NKAO in order to stop the Azerbajani shelling of Stepanakert and other interior villages.

At this time Azerbaijan had an somewhat effective and organized army even though the government was in disarray. President Ayaz Mutalibov of Azerbaijan wanted troops to surround NKAO and keep it under control. The Armenians of NK would form small groups of soldiers with each "unit" fighting for their own purpose essentially like "warriors". However, neither side had control because even though the Armenians were not that well organized, they fought with passion and believed in their cause much more than the Azeri people did. Nevertheless, on February 27, 1992 Azerbaijan attacked Askeran using tanks and helicopters after the NK rebels managed to take over Khojaly with little resistance. After both events, the Armenian Defense Ministry broadcasted an appeal to Armenians serving in the CIS armed forces to return home to form the basis of an Armenian National Army. Heavy fighting continued with Armenians "pushing" the battles further outside the boundaries of Nagorno-Karabgh. On March 6, 1992, President Mutalibov yielded to his Azeri militants, who were incensed by recent Armenian successes on the battlefield,

by submitting his resignation to the Azerbaijani Parliament. By the end of March an Iranian brokered cease-fire had been established but neither Karabagh or Azerbaijan stopped the sporadic

fighting. Reports circled that Azerbaijan was firing rockets into Stepanakert and Shusha while the Armenian guerillas were trying to fend off the attacks by firing back and continuing to take over surrounding Azeri villages.

April began with a new Azerbaijani offensive which would be their last attempt to secure control. Acting President Yakub Mamedov. 10-11 April, 20 Armenians were killed during the night of when some 1,000 Azerbaijani troops using armored vehicles attacked the village of Maraga in northern Nagorno-Karabakh, Meanwhile Armenian forces took the village of Dzhamilli in the Fizuli raion that borders on eastern Karabakh. On 12 April Azerbaijani troops attacked a second Armenian village and shelled the town of Stepanakert. Also, clashes began between Armenian militants in Armenia and the Nachichevan Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan, an area west of Armenia bordering on Turkey with an Azeri majority. On May 7, Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani invited Ter-Petrossyan and Mamedov to Tehran to discuss a stage-by-stage resolution to the conflict. After heated debates, both Presidents signed the agreement however both Mamedov and Petrossyan knew that niether controlled the actions of Nagorno-Karabagh and that most likely fighting would continue. For the next three days and nights heavy fighting continued with a counter-offensive by Azerbaijani forces to recapture Shusha. However, President conceded in a radio address on 11 May that

"Armenian forces had taken the town of Shusha virtually without a fight and that its surrender by Defense Minister Rahim Kaziev was an act of betrayal."

Armenians in Karabagh were essentially isolated for years from their "cousins" in Armenia and during most of this war were surrounded by Azeri villages with Azeri troops protecting them. The town of Lachin, strategically located between the western border of Nagorno-Karabakh and theArmenian-Azerbaijani frontier, was captured on May 18, thus securing a "land bridge" from Armenia to Karabakh. Those who took Lachin were Kurds fighting alongside Nagorno-Karabakh self-defense forces. The Kurds would like the reestablishment of their autonomous region which was abolished in 1929. As a result of these losses Mamedov resigned and Iskander Gambarov was voted in as acting President of Azerbaijan by the Parliament.

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 01:53 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1992:
(The massive Azeri assault of Artsakh)

During the month of June Azerbaijan intensified its assault on NK specifically against the Shaumyan raion, Shusha, Lachin, and Askeran. Most of this took place after June 13 Azerbaijani Defense Minister Rahim Gaziev stated that he would shoot himself in front of the parliament building in Baku if his forces fail to retake Karabakh. Elections in Azerbaijan proved to once again create chaos within the country and military with the swearing in of President Abulfaz Elchibey. He vowed that Azerbaijan would recapture all territory in Nagorno-Karabakh lost to Armenian forces within two months. He excluded the possibility of any degree of political autonomy for the Armenian population of Karabakh. This, of course, reassured the Armenians that keeping Karabagh and capturing surrounding villages to create the "buffer zone" was essential. However, on July 5, the Azerbaijani military captured the strategic town of Mardakert in the north of Nagorno-Karabakh even though they incurred significant casualties. During the month of July both sides were trying to establish control in Mardakert. By the end of this bloddy month hundreds were killed in battles, over 10,000 Armenian refugees fled, and two Su-25* Azerbaijani attack planes were shot down by Armenian missilse over Nagorno-Karabakh after the plane had just completed a bombing raid.

Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of the Popular Front elected President of Azerbaijan, declared the rapid military victory in Karabakh his major objective. The Azeri leadership made financial arrangement with commanders of the former Soviet 23-d division of the 4-th Army, winning over a large number of Russian officers, especially in the Tanks. On June 12, 1992 Azeri infantry supported by many Russian Tank corps launched an unprecedented offensive on the Shahumian region. During the next week, Azeri forces succeeded in taking control over the Shahumian region, and also occupied most of the Mardakert region. Some 40,000 refugees fled to Stepanakert, while small groups of the Shahumian fighters led by Shahen Meghryan were trying to penetrate into the occupied areas to wage guerrilla warfare.

**
This offensive also employed thousands of Chechen and Afgan mercenaries and many Turkish Army Generals took early retirements to lead and advise the Azeri forces:

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 02:07 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

1992 and onward:
(Armenians hold tough and withstand the assault -- then hit back)

The summer of 1992 was crucial. Despite great losses, the Armenians were able to withstand furious attacks on all front lines. Azeri military widely used bomber forces, in which Russian and Ukrainian mercenary pilots played the major role. Dropping forbidden cluster bombs on the Armenian villages became a common practice. In the fall of 1992, the Azeri troops tried to regain control over Lachin, but were definitively hurled back. Following the Armenian counterattack, the military operations moved to the Kubatli region of Azerbaijan. However, most of the Mardakert region was still under the Azeri control.

Monte.
Monte MelkonianAnother Armenian counteroffensive took place in February 1993. After a number of fierce battles, the Armenian fighters regained control over the Sarsang Reservoir. In March, the NKR Army began the Kelbajar operation, which succeeded in April. The Azeri forces responded with desperate attacks from the East, but the defense of the Martuni region was well organized by Monte, whose exceptional courage and devotion to the liberation of Artsakh made him the legendary Armenian hero.
The liberation of the city of Mardakert on June 27, 1993 was a turning point. Afterwards, the elimination of mighty weapon emplacements in the city of Aghdam became an urgent objective. At the very beginning of the conflict, Aghdam was converted into a dangerous base, packed with ammunition and weapons. On July 23, Aghdam was taken, which allowed the inhabitants of Stepanakert and Askeran relaxing after 18 months of non-stop bombing.

Armenians advance.
In August of 1993, the major operations took place in the Hadrout region, which was finally liberated by the advancing Armenian forces on August 26. By the end of August, Djebrail and Kubatli regions also fell under the Armenian control. The Armenian victories forced the Azeri military leadership to call off their troops, and a lull was established for the next 45 days. Then, Azerbaijan resumed the military operations trying to recapture the strong points in the Hadrout region. However, the Azeri forces suffered a new repulse. Continuing their offensive, the Armenians also took the Zanguelan region. In February 1994, the Azeri troops made their last attempt to break the Armenian positions in northeast of the NKR, but were defeated again. In April, the final lull was established after the Armenian fighters gained a number of important commanding heights in the Mardakert region. To this day, the NKR Army continues to control most of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as a buffer area comprising neighboring regions in the Azerbaijan Republic.

**skhara** · 03-12-2006, 02:08 AM

Re: The Artsakh war cronology

On August 13, 1992 The parliament of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic declared a state of emergency and ordered the mobilization of all men aged 18-45 in NK and refugees in Armenia in response to recent military successes by Azerbaijan in Artsvashen and Mardakert. Azerbaijani air raids continued in the capital of NK, Stepanakert even though another cease fire was brokered, this time by Kazakhstan on August 28. Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elchibey was quoted as saying that the "ceasefire agreement applied only to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and not to Nagorno-Karabakh, which was Azerbaijan's internal affair." Needless to say, fighting continued unabated even though both Armenia and Azerbaijan wanted international UN peacekeeping forces there during the 60-day Kazak cease-fire agreement.

The United States, concerned over placing US troops on former Soviet territory, condemed the fighting but refused to participate in direct talks. Battles ravaged across NK during September 12-14 when Azerbaijani forces tried to regaim control of the Armenian-controlled Lachin corridor. Azerbaijani soldiers continued to shell and attack yet they incurred more casualties than the Karabagh-Armenian forces. On September 18, Azerbaijan launched a largescale offensive against Armenian units in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani military command and President Abulfaz Elchibey issued an ultimatum to Armenian fighters in Shusha to withdraw from the town within two days, in which case they will be guaranteed an unobs Azerbaijani forces retook the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Martuni on 23 September and subjected

the capital of Stepanakert to aerial bombardment; fierce fighting was also reported along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, tructed retreat along

the Lachin corridor that links Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan admitted that this war was costing them plenty, not only monetary but psychologically as well. On the other hand, Armenia had nothing to lose and everything to gain. After the 1988 earthquake, the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the conflict with the Azeris they felt the Genocide of 1915 was happening all over again. Azerbaijan had many problems. Opposition groups and government officials clashed frequently. The military had problems with deserters and those who felt no emotional ties toward Karabagh. The Azeri government quoted that this war was costing each side 25-30 million roubles per day.

Between and during the months of October and December Azerbaijan had the upper hand militarily and there was willingness for a permanent resolution and/or UN peacekeeping forces only if .George Bush, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand would participate. Azerbaijan claimed that claimed that Armenia was

developing nuclear bombs with the radioactive waste from the Medzamor nuclear power plant for use if Azerbaijan attempts to deport the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The chief of the Azerbaijani forces in Defense Minister Rahim Gaziev

Nagorno-Karabakh was relieved of his duties last week, following Armenian territorial gains in the regions of Mardakert, Northeast Karabagh, and 11 other villages. Gaziev accused

of intending to precipitate a coup d'etat by surrendering to the Karabagh Armenians.

All these military defeats forced Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elchibey, to appoint Afghan veteran Maj.-Gen. Dadash Rzaev to replace Gaziev. While the CSCE was trying to develop a new cease-fire peace plan, fierce fighting continued on 27 February between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Karabakh for control of the Sarsang dam, a key stronghold for both sides.

Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossyan on February 28 stated that

Armenia and the self- proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are ready for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. However, Armenian infantry and armor continued a two pronged attack on 31 March in the Kelbadzhar raion northwest of Lachin, in the area of Azerbaijan that divides Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia.. In a five day period Armenian forces cpatured 40 villages in order to create a second land corridor; Azerbaijan sent helicopters to the raion center of Kelbadzhar to begin evacuating the civilian population, .Armenian forces advanced to within a few miles of Kelbadzhar on 1 April and subjected the town and surrounding villages to artillery bombardment; two people were killed and 19 injured when a helicopter evacuating civilians from the town crashed due to overloading. A spokesman for the Nagorno-Karabakh

administration argued that the offensive was launched in response to an attempt by Azerbaijani forces to cut the Lachin humanitarian supply corridor between Karabakh and Armenia, Date:

Armenian forces advanced to the town of Kelbadzhar in western Azerbaijan on 2 April and finally occupied the town on 3 April after heavy fighting, Western agencies reported. Azerbaijani spokesmen said that many civilians were either killed in the fighting or died trying to flee north to Gyandzha in inclement weather conditions. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry estimated that Armenian forces now control up to 10 per cent of the entire territory of Azerbaijan.

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