Shusha

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Coordinates: 39°45′30″N 46°44′54″E

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For other uses, see Shusha (disambiguation).
"Shushi" redirects here. Not to be confused with Sushi.

Shusha / Shushi
Azerbaijani: Şuşa
Armenian: Շուշի

City

Landmarks of Shusha, from top left:

Ghazanchetsots Cathedral • Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque
Shusha fortress • Shusha mountains
House of Mehmandarovs • City center
Shusha skyline • House of Khurshidbanu Natavan
Shusha / Shushi

Show map of AzerbaijanShow map of Karabakh Economic

RegionShow all

Coordinates: 39°45′30″N 46°44′54″E

Country Azerbaijan

Region Karabakh

District Shusha

Government

• Mayor Bayram Safarov

• Special representative Aydin Karimov[1]

Area

• Total 5.5 km2 (2.1 sq mi)

Highest elevation 1,800 m (5,900 ft)

Lowest elevation 1,400 m (4,600 ft)

Population

(2015)[2]

• Total 4,064

Demonym(s) Şuşalı ("Shushaly"; in Azerbaijani )

Շուշեցի ("Shushets'i"; in Armenian)
 Time zone UTC+4 (AZT)

ISO 3166 code AZ-SUS

Vehicle registration 58 AZ

Website shusha-ih.gov.az

Shusha (Azerbaijani: Şuşa, (listen) ) or Shushi (Armenian: Շուշի) is a city in Azerbaijan,

ⓘ

in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800

metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in
the Soviet era.
Most sources date Shusha's establishment to the 1750s by Panah Ali Khan,[3] founder of
the Karabakh Khanate, coinciding with the foundation of the fortress of Shusha. Some
attribute this to an alliance between Panah Ali Khan and Melik Shahnazar, the local
Armenian prince (melik) of Varanda.[4] In these accounts, the name of the town
originated from a nearby Armenian village called Shosh or
Shushikent (see § Etymology for alternative explanations).[5] Conversely, some sources
describe Shusha as an important center within the self-governing Armenian melikdoms
of Karabakh in the 1720s,[6] and others say the plateau was already the site of an
Armenian fortification.[7] From the mid-18th century to 1822, Shusha was the capital of
the Karabakh Khanate. The town became one of the cultural centers of the South
Caucasus after the Russian conquest of the Caucasus region from Qajar Iran in the first
half of the 19th century.[8] Over the course of the 19th century, the town grew in size to
become a city, and was home to many Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals, poets,
writers and musicians (including Azerbaijani ashiks, mugham singers
and kobuz players).[9][10]
The town has religious, cultural and strategic importance to both groups. Shusha is
often considered the cradle of Azerbaijan's music and poetry, and one of the leading
centres of the Azerbaijani culture.[11][12] Shusha also contains a number of Armenian
Apostolic churches, including Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and Kanach Zham, and serves
as a land link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, via the Lachin corridor to the
west.[13] Throughout modern history, the city fostered a mixed Armenian–Azerbaijani
population. The first available demographic information about the city in 1823 suggests
the city had an Azerbaijani majority.[14] The Armenian inhabitants of the city steadily grew
over time to constitute a majority of the city's population until the Shusha massacre in
1920, in which the Armenian half of the city was destroyed by Azerbaijani forces,
resulting in the death or expulsion of the Armenian population, up to 20,000 people.[15][16][17]
The city has suffered significant destruction and depopulation during the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict. After the capture of Shusha in 1992 by Armenian forces during First
Nagorno-Karabakh War, the city's Azerbaijani population fled, and most of the city was
destroyed.[18] Between May 1992 and November 2020, Shusha was under the de
facto control of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh and administered as the centre of
its Shushi Province. On 8 November 2020, Azerbaijani forces retook the city during
the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War following a three-day long battle.[19][20] The Armenian
population of the city fled, and multiple reports emerged that the Armenian cultural
heritage of the city was being destroyed.[21][22][23] The Azerbaijani government opened the
city to tourists from Azerbaijan in 2022 and plans to start resettling the city in 2023.[24]
Etymology
Several historians believe Shusha derives from the New Persian Shīsha ("glass, vessel,
bottle, flask").[25][26] According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names,
when Iranian ruler Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar approached the town with his army, he
reportedly told the ruler of Karabakh Ibrahim Khalil Khan:
God is pouring stones on thy head. Sit ye not then in thy fortress of glass.[25]
Panahabad ("City of Panah"), Shusha's previous name, was a tribute to Panah Ali
Khan, the first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate.[25]
According to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, published in the final
decades of the Russian Empire, the town's name comes from the nearby
village Shushikent[27] (called Shosh in Armenian), which literally means "Shusha village"
in the Azerbaijani language. Conversely, the Armenian historian Leo (1860–1932)
considered it more likely that the village Shosh received its name from the fortress,
which he considered the older settlement.[28]
According to Armenian sources, the name Shusha most likely derives from the dialectal
Armenian word shosh/shush (Armenian: շոշ/շուշ), meaning tree sprout or, figuratively,
a high place, first applied either to the adjacent village Shosh or to Shusha itself.[29][30] The
form Shusha can also be explained as the genitive form of shosh/shush, as -a or -ay is
a common declensional ending for placenames in pre-modern and dialectal Armenian.[30]
In the first written reference to the settlement in a 15th-century Armenian manuscript,
the name is rendered as Shushu.[31] Besides the common Armenian name Shushi, the
town has historically been referred to in Armenian by various names,
including Shoshi/Shushva Berd, Shoshi Sghnakh, Shoshvaghala, which all mean
"Shosh/Shushi Fortress".[32]

History
Foundation

Saint John the Baptist Church (Kanach Zham), built in

1818. Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque, completed in 1885.

A settlement at Shusha is first recorded in a 15th-century illustrated
Armenian gospel kept on display at Yerevan's Matenadaran (archival number 8211),
which mentions a "Shushu village". The gospel was written by the scribe and artist Ter-
Manuel in 1428, and is the earliest known artifact from the town.[33][34][35][36][31][37]
Some Armenian sources identify Shusha with a fortress called Shikakʻar or Kʻaraglukh,
where the 9th-century Armenian prince Sahl Smbatean is said to have defeated an
invading Arab army.[32][38] According to several sources, a settlement called Shosh served
as an ancient fortress in the Armenian principality of Varanda, and had traditionally
belonged to the Melik-Shahnazarian princely dynasty.[7][39][40] The fortress was described
as a strategic stronghold in one of the Eastern Armenian military districts,
called sghnakhs, playing a key role in the Armenian commander Avan Yuzbashi's
campaign against Ottoman forces during their incursion into of the South Caucasus in
the 1720s and 1730s.[41] Armenian historian and Shusha native Ashot
Hovhannisian wrote that the fortress walls must have been built by Avan Yuzbashi in
1724, if not earlier.[28]
Kehva Chelebi, an early Armenian national activist who maintained correspondence
between the meliks of Karabakh and the Russian authorities, in a 1725 report describes
Shusha as a town and a fort:
… The nearest Armenian stronghold … was Shushi. Shushi is four days' distance from
Shemakhi. Armed Armenians under the command of Avan Yuzbashi guard it. After
meeting with the Armenian leaders, including the Patriarch, they returned to Derbent via
Shemakhi. Rocky mountains surround the town of Shushi. The number of the armed
Armenians has not been determined. There are rumors that the Armenians have
defeated the Turks in a number of skirmishes in Karabagh …[42]
19th-century Georgian scholar Alexander Tsagareli's work Letters and other historical
documents of the 18th century regarding Georgia, Vol. 1 contains a 1769 letter by
Georgian king Erekle II to Russian diplomat Count P. Panin, which states that there was
"an ancient fortress in the realm of the Khamsa [melikdoms]" which was "conquered,
through deceit" by "one Muslim man from the Jevanshir tribe."[39] The same information
about the ancient fortress is confirmed by the Russian field marshal Alexander
Suvorov in a letter to Prince Grigory Potemkin.[43][44] Suvorov writes that the Armenian
prince Melik Shahnazar of Varanda surrendered his fortress Shushikala to
"certain Panah", whom he called a chief of nomadic Muslims living near the Karabakh
borders.[43] When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian
diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy writes in his Historical Notes that Shusha
fortress was a possession of the Melik-Shahnazarian clan, which was given to Panah
Ali Khan in return for aid against the other Armenian meliks of Karabakh.[45] Russian
historian P. G. Butkov (1775–1857) writes that "Shushi village" was given to Panah Ali
Khan by the Melik-Shahnazarian prince after they entered into an alliance, and that
Panah Ali Khan fortified the village.[46][47] The missionary Joseph Wolff (1795–1862),
during his mission in the Middle East, visited "Shushee, in the province of Carabagh, in
Armenia Major".[48]

The Palace of Khurshidbanu Natavan, the daughter of

the last ruler of Karabakh Khanate, late 19th-early 20th centuries
 The Armenian quarters of Shusha – with
the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the background – in the early 20th century, before
their destruction by Azerbaijani military units in 1920
Some sources, including Mirza Jamal Javanshir, Mirza Adigozal bey, Abbasgulu
Bakikhanov and Mirza Yusuf Nersesov, attest to the foundation of the town in 1750–
1752 (according to other sources, 1756–1757) by Panah Ali Khan (r. 1748–1763), the
founder and the first ruler of the Karabakh Khanate (1748–1822), which comprised both
Lowland and Highland Karabakh.[49][50] The mid-18th century foundation is supported by
the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam,[3] and the Brockhaus and Efron
Encyclopedic Dictionary.[5]
According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, the author of the Persian-language text History of
Karabakh,[51] one of the most significant chronicles on the history of Karabakh in 18th-
19th centuries, the Karabakh nobility assembled to discuss the danger of invasion from
Iran and told Panah Ali Khan, "We must build among the impassable mountains such
an inviolable and inaccessible fort, so that no strong enemy could take it." Melik
Shahnazar of Varanda, who was the first of the Armenian meliks (dukes) to accept the
suzerainty of Panah Ali Khan and who would remain his loyal supporter, suggested a
location for the new fortress. Thus, Panahabad-Shusha was founded.
According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir, before Panah Ali Khan constructed the fortress
there were no buildings there and it was used as cropland and pasture by the people of
the nearby village of Shoshi.[51][52] Panah khan resettled to Shusha the population of
Shahbulag and some nearby villages and built strong fortifications.[52]
Another account is presented by Raffi (1835–1888), an Armenian novelist and historian,
in his work The Princedoms of Khamsa, which asserts that the place where Shushi was
built was desolate and uninhabited before Panah Ali Khan's arrival. He states, "[Panah-
Ali Khan and Melik-Shahnazar of Varanda] soon completed the construction (1762) [of
the fortress] and moved the Armenian population of the nearby village of Shosh (Շոշ),
called also Shoshi, or Shushi into the fortress.″[53]
Conflict with the Qajars
See also: Battle of Krtsanisi

19th-century map
Although Panah Ali Khan had been in conflict with Nader Shah, the new ruler of
Persia, Adil Shah, issued a firman (decree) recognizing Panah Ali as the Khan of
Karabakh.[54] Less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh Khanate was
attacked by Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar, one of the major claimants to the Iranian
throne. During the Safavid Empire Karabakh was for almost two centuries ruled by
Ziyad-oglu family of the clan of Qajars (of Turkic origin),[55] and therefore, Muhammed
Hassan Khan considered Karabakh his hereditary estate.[52][56][57][58][verification needed]
Muhammed Hassan Khan besieged Shusha (Panahabad at that time) but soon had to
retreat because of the attack on his territory by his major opponent, Karim Khan Zand.
His retreat was so hasty that he even left his cannons under the walls of Shusha
fortress. Panah Ali Khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Mohammad Hassan
khan and even briefly took Ardabil across the Aras River.
In 1756 (or 1759), Shusha and the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack
from Fath-Ali Khan Afshar, ruler of Urmia. With his 30,000 strong army, Fath-Ali Khan
also managed to gain support from the meliks of Jraberd and Talish (Gulistan),
however, Melik Shahnazar of Varanda continued to support Panah Ali Khan. The Siege
of Shusha lasted for six months and Fath-Ali Khan eventually had to retreat.
When Karim Khan Zand took control of much of Iran, he forced Panah Ali Khan to come
to Shiraz (capital of Zand-ruled Iran), where he died as a hostage.[59] Panah Ali Khan's
son Ibrahim Khalil Khan was sent back to Karabakh as governor.[60] Under him, the
Karabakh Khanate became one of the strongest state formations[clarification needed] and Shusha
grew. According to travellers who visited Shusha at the end of 18th-early 19th centuries
the town had about 2,000 houses and approximately 10,000 population.[citation needed]

Shusha fortress in 2021

In summer 1795, Shusha was subjected to a major attack by Agha Mohammad Khan
Qajar, son of Mohammad Hassan Khan who had attacked Shusha in 1752. Agha
Mohammad Khan Qajar's goal was to end with the feudal fragmentation and to restore
the old Safavid State in Iran.[citation needed] By early 1795, he had already secured mainland
Iran and was directly afterwards poised to bring the entire Caucasus region back within
the Iranian domains.[61] For this purpose he also wanted to proclaim himself Shah of Iran.
However, according to the Safavid tradition, the shah had to take control over the whole
of South Caucasus and Dagestan before his coronation.[citation needed] Therefore, the Karabakh
Khanate and its fortified capital Shusha were the first and major obstacle to achieve
these ends.
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar besieged Shusha with the centre part of a 70,000-strong
army, after having crossed the Aras River.[62] The right and left wings were sent to
resubjugate Shirvan-Dagestan and Erivan respectively. Agha Mohammad Khan himself
led the centre part of the main army, besieging Shusha between 8 July and 9 August
1795.[63] Ibrahim Khalil khan mobilized the population for a long-term defense. The
number of militia in Shusha reached 15,000.[citation needed] Women fought together with men.
[citation needed]
The Armenian population of Karabakh also actively participated in this struggle
against the Iranians and fought side by side with the Muslim population, jointly
organizing ambushes in the mountains and forests.[citation needed]
The siege lasted for 33 days. Not being able to capture Shusha, Agha Mohammad
Khan ceased the siege[64] and advanced to Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi), which despite
desperate resistance was occupied and exposed to unprecedented destruction. Ibrahim
Khalil Khan eventually surrendered to Mohammad Khan after negotiations, including the
paying of regular tribute and to surrender hostages, although the Qajar forces were still
denied entrance to Shusha.[64] Since the main objective was Georgia, Mohammad Khan
was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army
subsequently moved further.[64]
In 1797, Agha Mohammad Shah Qajar, having successfully resubjugated Georgia and
the wider Caucasus and having declared himself shah, decided to carry out a second
attack on Karabakh.
Trying to avenge his previous humiliating defeat, Agha Mohammad Shah devastated
the surrounding villages near Shusha. The population had not recovered from the
previous 1795 attack and also suffered from a serious drought which lasted for three
years. The artillery of the attackers also inflicted serious losses on the city defenders.
Thus, in 1797 Agha Mohammad Shah succeeded in seizing Shusha and Ibrahim Khalil
Khan had to flee to Dagestan.
However, several days after the seizure of Shusha, Agha Mohammad Khan was killed
in mysterious circumstances by his bodyguards in the town.[65] Ibrahim Khalil Khan
returned to Shusha and ordered that the shah's body be honourably buried until further
instructions from the nephew and heir of Agha Mohammad Shah, Baba Khan, who soon
assumed the title of Fath-Ali Shah.[66] Ibrahim Khan, in order to maintain peaceful
relations with Tehran and retain his position as the Khan of Karabakh, gave his
daughter Agha Begom, known as Aghabaji, as one of the wives of the new shah.[66]
Within the Russian Empire
From the early 19th century, Russian ambitions in the Caucasus to increase its
territories at the expense of neighbouring Qajar Iran and Ottoman Turkey began to rise.
Following the annexation of Georgia in 1801, some of the khanates agreed to become
Russian protectorates in the immediate years afterwards.[citation needed] In 1804, the Russian
general Pavel Tsitsianov directly invaded Qajar Iran, initiating the Russo-Persian War of
1804–1813. Amidst the war, in 1805, an agreement was made between the Karabakh
Khanate and the Russian Empire on the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia
during the war, but was not fully realized, as both parties were still at war and the
Russians were unable to consolidate any effective control over Karabakh.[citation needed]

Ashaghi Govhar Agha Mosque, opened in 1876

The Russian Empire consolidated its power in the Karabakh Khanate following
the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813, when Iran was forced to recognize the Karabakh
Khanate,[67] along most of the other khanates they possessed in the Caucasus, as
belonging to Russia, comprising present-day Dagestan and most of the modern-
day Republic of Azerbaijan, while officially ceding Georgia as well, thus irrevocably
losing the greater part of its Caucasian territories.[68] Absolute consolidation of Russian
power over Karabakh and the recently conquered parts of the Caucasus from Iran were
confirmed with the outcome of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 and the
ensuing Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828.[69]

Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, opened in 1887

During the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the citadel at Shusha held out for several
months and never fell. After this Shusha ceased to be a capital of a khanate, which was
dissolved in 1822, and instead became an administrative capital first of the Karabakh
province (1822–1840), and then of the Shusha Uyezd of the Elisabethpol
Governorate (1840–1923). Shusha grew and developed, with successive waves of
migrants moving to the city, particularly Armenians, who formed a demographic majority
in the surrounding highlands.[70][14][71]
Beginning from the 1830s the town was divided into two parts: Turkic-speaking Muslims
lived in the eastern lower quarters, while Armenian Christians settled in the relatively
new western upper quarters of the town. The Muslim part of the town was divided into
seventeen quarters. Each quarter had its own mosque, Turkish bath, water-spring and
also a quarter representative, who would be elected from among the elders (aksakals)
and would function similarly to the head of a modern-day municipality. The Armenian
part of the town consisted of 12 quarters, five churches, a town and district school and a
girls' seminary.
The population of the town primarily dealt with trade, horse-breeding, carpet-weaving
and wine and vodka production. Shusha was also the biggest centre of silk production
in the Caucasus. Most of the Muslim population of the town and of Karabakh, in
general, was engaged in sheep and horse-breeding and therefore, had a semi-nomadic
lifestyle, spending wintertime in lowland Karabakh in wintering pastures and spring and
summer in summering pastures in Shusha and other mountainous parts.[citation needed]
In the 19th century, Shusha was one of the great cities of the Caucasus, larger and
more prosperous than either Baku or Yerevan.[72] Standing in the middle of a net of
caravan routes, it had ten caravanserais.[72] It was well known for its silk trade, its paved
roads, brightly coloured carpets, big stone houses, and fine-bred horses.[72] In 1824,
George Keppel, the Earl of Albemarle, passed through the city.[72] He found two
thousand houses in the town, with three-quarters of the inhabitants Azerbaijanis and
one-quarter Armenian.[72] He furthermore noted regarding the town;[72]
(...) The language is a dialect of the Turkish; but its inhabitants, with the exception of the
Armenians, generally read and write Persian. The trade is carried on principally by the
Armenians, between the towns of Sheki, Nakshevan, Khoi and Tabriz."

Early 20th century

Main articles: Shusha massacre and Armenian–Azerbaijani war (1918–1920) § Fight
for Karabakh, early 1920
 Karabakh reconciliation commission, composed of
religious leaders and elders of both Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in Shusha in

1906–07 Armenian half of Shusha destroyed by

Azerbaijani armed forces in 1920, with the defiled cathedral of the Holy Savior and

Aguletsots church on the background Ruins of the

Armenian part of Shusha after the 1920 pogrom with the church of the Holy Mother of
God "Kanach Zham" in the background
The beginning of the 20th century marked the first Armenian-Tartar clashes
throughout Azerbaijan. This new phenomenon had two causes. Firstly, it was the result
of increased tensions between the local Muslim population and Armenians, whose
numbers increased throughout the 19th century as a result of Russian resettlement
policies.[citation needed] Secondly, by the beginning of the 20th-century, the peoples of the
Caucasus, similar to other non-Russian peoples in the periphery of the Russian Empire,
began to seek cultural and territorial autonomy. Political instability within Russia,
particularly the 1905 Revolution and 1917 Revolutions, caused these social movements
to acquire the character of national liberation movements.
The initial clashes between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis took place in Baku in
February 1905. Soon, the conflict spilled over to other parts of the Caucasus, and on
August 5, 1905, first conflict between the Armenian and Azerbaijani inhabitants of
Shusha took place. As a result of the mutual pogroms and killings, hundreds of people
died and more than 200 houses were burned.[73]
After World War I and subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire, Karabakh was
claimed by Azerbaijan to be part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, a decision
hotly disputed by neighbouring Armenia and by Karabakh's Armenian population, which
claimed Karabakh as part of the First Republic of Armenia. With the capture of Baku, a
small force of Turkish troops entered Shusha on 7 October 1918, also occupying the
road to Aghdam. Whilst the Armenians of Shusha did not resist the Turks to avoid
violence, the Turks with their limited troops were unable to seize the countryside of
Karabakh which was held by an armed milita of local Armenians.[74] After the defeat
of Ottoman Empire in the World War I, Armenian forces under Andranik
Ozanian defeated Azerbaijani forces under Khosrov bey Sultanov in Abdallyar (Lachin),
and began heading down the Lachin corridor towards Shusha. Shortly before Andranik
could arrive, British troops under General W. M. Thomson encouraged him to retreat,
out of concerns that Armenian military activity could have an adverse effect on the
region's status, which was to be decided at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
[75]
Trusting Thomson, Andranik left, and British troops occupied Karabakh. The British
command provisionally affirmed Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as
the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending the final decision by the Paris
Peace Conference.[76]
Ethnic conflict began to erupt in the region. Оn 5 June 1919, 600 Armenian inhabitants
of the villages surrounding Shusha were massacred by Azerbaijani and Kurdish
irregulars. Sultanov stated that the irregulars were not under his control.[77] In August
1919, the Karabakh National Council was forced to enter into a provisional treaty
agreement with the Azerbaijani government, recognizing the authority of the Azerbaijan
government until the issue of the mountainous part of Karabakh was settled at the Paris
Peace Conference. Despite signing the agreement, the Azerbaijani government
continuously violated the terms of the treaty,[17][78] and Sultanov employed severe
measures against them, such as terror, blockade and famine.[77][79][80] Sultanov gathered
troops in the region and on 19 February 1920 issued an ultimatum to the Armenians,
demanding they accept unconditional unification with Azerbaijan, and then massacred
the population of several Armenian villages, including Khankendi (Stepanakert).[78] A
minority of Karabagh National Council representatives gathered in Shusha to accept
Sultanov's demands, while the rest met in nearby Shushikend to reject the ultimatum.
[78]
The strife culminated in an Armenian uprising,[81][82] which was suppressed by the
Azerbaijani army. In late March 1920, the Armenian half of the police forces was
reported by a British journalist to have murdered the Azerbaijani half during the latter's
traditional Novruz Bayram holiday celebrations. The Armenian surprise attack was
organised and coordinated by the forces of the Armenian Republic.[83][84] Azerbaijani
outrage for this surprise attack ultimately led to the massacre and expulsion of the
Armenian population in March 1920, in which 500[85]–8,000[86] to 20,000[17] Armenians were
killed, others were forced to flee, and the Armenian half of the city, 1,675 of 1,700
homes, were destroyed.[86] A report from Dashnak archives states that 8,000 Armenians
escaped from the city, whilst 5,000–6,000 remained behind.[83]
According to the description of an Azerbaijani communist Ojahkuli Musaev:
… the ruthless destruction of defenceless women, children, old women, old men, etc
has begun. Armenians were exposed to mass slaughter. … beautiful Armenian girls
were raped, then shot. … By the order of … Khosrov-bek Sultanov; the pogroms
proceeded for more than six days. Houses in the Armenian part have been partially
demolished, plundered and reduced all to ashes, everyone led away women to submit
to the wishes of executioner musavatists. During these historically artful forms of
punishment, Khosrov-bek Sultanov, spoke about holy war (jihad) in his speeches to the
Moslems, and called on them to finally finish the Armenians of the city of Shusha, not
sparing women, children, etc.[87][verification needed]
Nadezhda Mandelstam wrote about Shusha in the 1930s, "in this town, which formerly
of course was healthy and with every amenity, the picture of catastrophe and
massacres was terribly visual. ... They say after the massacres all the wells were full of
dead bodies. ... We didn't see anyone in the streets on the mountain. Only in downtown
—in the market-square, there were a lot of people, but there wasn't any Armenian
among them; all were Muslims".[88]
Soviet era
 View from the town
In 1920, the Bolshevik 11th Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and then Armenia and put an
end to the national de facto governments that existed in those two countries. Thereafter,
the conflict for the control of Karabakh entered the diplomatic sphere. To attract
Armenian public support,[citation needed] the Bolsheviks promised to resolve the issue of the
disputed territories, including Karabakh, in favour of Armenia. However, on July 5, 1921,
the Kavbiuro of the Communist Party adopted the following decision regarding the
future status of Karabakh: "Proceeding from the necessity of national peace among
Muslims and Armenians and of the economic ties between upper (mountainous) and
lower Karabakh, of its permanent ties with Azerbaijan, mountainous Karabakh is to
remain within AzSSR, receiving wide regional autonomy with the administrative centre
in Shusha, which is to be included in the autonomous region." As a result, the
Mountainous Karabakh Autonomous Region was established within the Azerbaijan SSR
in 1923. A few years later, Stepanakert, named after the Armenian communist
leader Stepan Shaumyan, became the new regional capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Autonomous Oblast and soon became its largest town.

A T-72 tank standing as a memorial commemorating

the capture of Shusha by the Armenian forces
The decision make Nagorno-Karabakh an autonomous region within Azerbaijan is
frequently attributed to Joseph Stalin, who was Commissar of Nationalities at the time,
purportedly with the purpose of ensuring Moscow's position as power broker between
the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs.[89][90] Stalin participated in the Kavbiuro's meetings
on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh but did not vote.[91]
The town remained half-ruined until the 1960s when the town began to gradually revive
due to its recreational potential. In 1977 the Shusha State Historical and Architectural
Reserve was established and the town became one of the major resort-towns in the
former USSR.
The Armenian quarter continued to lie in ruins until the beginning of the 1960s. In 1961,
Baku's communist leadership finally passed a decision to clear away much of the ruins,
even though many old buildings still could have been renovated. Three Armenian and
one Russian church were demolished and the Armenian part of the town was built up
with plain buildings typical of the Khrushchev era.[citation needed]
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
1988–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war
Main article: Battle of Shusha (1992)
 Part of Shusha in ruins in 2010
With the start of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988 Shusha became the most
important Azerbaijani stronghold in Karabakh, from where Azerbaijani forces constantly
shelled the capital Stepanakert for half a year, leading to hundreds of Armenian civilian
casualties and causing mass destruction in Stepanakert. On May 9, 1992, the town was
captured by Armenian forces in an operation to lift the siege of Stepanakert and the
Azerbaijani population fled.[92] According to Armenian commander Arkady Ter-
Tadevosyan, the city was looted and burnt by Armenian citizens from
nearby Stepanakert, who had endured months of bombing and shelling from Azerbaijani
forces. He also noted it was part of a Karabakh Armenian superstition of burning houses
to prevent the enemy from returning.[93] A British journalist witnessed Armenian soldiers
using minarets of a mosque in Shusha as shooting targets.[94] As of 2002, ten years later
after the city's capture by the Armenian forces, some 80% of the town was in ruins.
[95]
Armenians also dismantled and sold off historic dark bronze busts of three
Azerbaijani musicians and poets from Shusha.[96] Another British journalist who visited
Shusha in 1997 reported that the gravestones in the Azerbaijani cemetery on the edge
of town were "methodically smashed and vandalised".[97]
After the end of the war, the town was repopulated by Armenians, mostly refugees from
Azerbaijan and other parts of Karabakh, as well as members of the Armenian diaspora.
The population of the town was significantly less than the pre-war number, and the
demographic of the town had changed from mostly Azerbaijani to completely Armenian.
The Goris-Stepanakert Highway passes through the town and is a transit and tourist
destination for many. There were some hotels in the city, and cultural monuments such
as the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and the Yukhari Govhar Agha Mosque were restored
by Armenian authorities.[98]
After the war, a T-72 tank commanded by the Karabakhi Armenian Gagik Avsharian
was placed as a memorial. The tank had been hit during the town's capture, killing the
driver and gun operator, but Avsharian jumped free from the hatch. The tank was
restored and its number, 442, repainted in white on the side.[99]
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war
Main article: Battle of Shusha (2020)

Celebrations in Baku, Azerbaijan on 8 November.

During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Armenia accused the Azerbaijani army of
shelling civilian areas and the city's Ghazanchetsots Cathedral. Three journalists were
wounded while they were inside the cathedral to film the destruction of a previous
shelling on the same day.[100] Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence has denied the shelling of
the cathedral by stating that "destruction of the church in Shusha has nothing to do with
the activities of the Army of Azerbaijan"[101] The House of Culture was also badly
damaged in the fighting.[102]
On November 8, 2020, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that the
Azerbaijani army took control of the city of Shusha.[103] The next day, the Azerbaijani
Ministry of Defence released a video from the city, confirming full Azerbaijani control.
[19]
On the same day, Artsakh authorities confirmed that they had lost control of Shusha.
[104]
A ceasefire signed two days later reaffirmed Azerbaijan's gains, resulting in the city
staying under its control. The Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic
Church subsequently claimed that Azerbaijani soldiers had vandalised Armenian
churches and cultural landmarks, including Ghazanchetsots Cathedral[105][106] and Kanach
Zham,[107] which was supported by reports from FreedomHouse and
CaucasusHeritageWatch.[108][109] Azerbaijani officials claimed that the Mamayi Mosque and
a nearby fountain was vandalised by the Armenians forces.[110]

Culture

Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov (top left) with his family

in Shusha, 1915
Shusha contains both Armenian and Azerbaijani cultural monuments, while the
surrounding territories also include many ancient Armenian villages.[111]
Shusha is often considered the cradle of Azerbaijan's music and poetry and one of the
leading centres of the Azerbaijani culture,[11][12] having been declared the cultural capital
of Azerbaijan in January 2021.[112] The city is particularly renowned for its traditional
Azerbaijani genre of vocal and instrumental arts called mugham.[113] For the Azerbaijanis,
Shusha is the "conservatoire of the Caucasus". Khurshidbanu Natavan, Azerbaijan's
most famous woman poet, composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, opera singer Bulbul and one of
Azerbaijan's first twentieth-century novelists, Yusif Vezir Chemenzeminli, were born
here.[11] Molla Panah Vagif, a prominent Azerbaijani poet and vizier of the Karabakh
khanate, lived and died in Shusha. Vagif Poetry Days were held in Shusha annually
since 1982. The tradition was resumed in 2021.[114]
Shusha is also a historical Armenian religious and cultural center.[115][116] The Armenian
population of the town historically had four main churches, each named after the place
of origin of the Armenian inhabitants: Ghazanchetsots (after Qazançı; officially named
Holy Savior Cathedral), Aguletsos Holy Mother of God Church (after Agulis),
Meghretsots Holy Mother of God Church (after Meghri), and Gharabakhtsots (after the
region of Karabakh; the church is better known as Kanach Zham).[117] Shusha was also
home to a monastery complex called Kusanats Vank ("Virgins' Monastery") or Anapat
Kusanats ("Virgins' Hermitage")․[117] In 1989, Ghazanchetsots Cathedral was made the
seat of the newly reestablished Diocese of Artsakh of the Armenian Apostolic Church.[118]
 Armenian composer Grikor Mirzaian Suni with his chorus
in Shushi (1902)
Shusha serves an important role in the history of Armenian music, being the hometown
and headquarters of Armenian composer Grikor Suni and his chorus.[119] Suni was an
instrumental figure in establishing the national identity of Armenian music and
considered one of the many founders of modern Armenian music.[120][121] In addition, the
Khandamirian or Shushi theater which opened in 1891 would become regionally famous
for its important contributions to the Armenian cultural arts, especially music.[122] In the
Khandamirian theater, Suni gave his first ever performance. By 1902, Suni had
organized his Oriental Cultural Ensemble in Shusha and had their first big concert which
would get them in trouble with Russian authorities forcing the ensemble out of Shusha
where they went on to spread Armenian cultural music around the world.[123] Shusha was
also the hometown of Arev Baghdasaryan, the prominent Armenian singer, dancer,
and People's Artist of the Armenian SSR.[124]
Shusha is also well known for sileh rugs, floor coverings from the South Caucasus.
Those from the Caucasus may have been woven in the vicinity of Shusha. A
similar Eastern Anatolian type usually shows a different range of colours.[125]
In November 2020, the organizers of the Turkvision Song Contest stated that they were
exploring the possibility of holding the contest's 2021 version in Shusha,[126] and in
January 2021, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture started preparatory activities on
the Khari Bulbul Festival and Days of the Poetry of Vagif.[127]
Museums
During the Soviet period, Shusha was home to museums such as the Shusha Museum
of History, the house museum of Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the house
museum of the Azerbaijani singer Bulbul, and the Shusha Carpet Museum.
[128]
The Azerbaijan State Museum of History of Karabakh was founded in Shusha in
1991 shortly before the outbreak of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
While the city was under Armenian control, a number of museums were operated there:
the State Museum of Fine Arts, G. A. Gabrielyants State Geological Museum, the
Shushi History Museum, the Shushi Carpet Museum and the Shushi Art Gallery.[129]
The Shushi History Museum is located in a 19th-century mansion, in the centre of the
historical quarter, and had a collection of artefacts related to Shusha from ancient to
modern times.[129] The collection of the museum contains many ethnographic materials,
including the goods of local masters. The museum contains household articles,
photographs, and reproductions illustrating life of 19th-century inhabitants of Shusha.
There are also sections dedicated to the 1920 Shusha Massacre and the capture of
Shusha by Armenian forces in 1992. The G. A. Gabrielyants State Geological Museum,
named after and created by Armenian geologist Grigori Gabrielyants, was opened in the
building of Taza Mahalla Mosque in Shusha in 2014. It contains 480 samples of ore and
fossil from 47 countries of the world.[129]
Except for the rugs kept at the Shushi Carpet Museum, which were removed, the
collections of the museums in Shusha were left behind and remained in the city after
the capture of Shusha by Azerbaijani forces in 2020.[129]
In August 2021, satellite images released by Caucasus Heritage Watch (a watchdog
group of researchers from Purdue and Cornell) revealed that between April 10 and June
5, 51 sculptures in the park of the Museum of Fine Arts were removed and the area
completely cleared: "CHW is concerned about the condition of these artworks, which
are the property of that museum. CHW asks Azerbaijani authorities to disclose the
location of the confiscated sculptures and plans for public access" read the Facebook
page of the organization.[130][131]

Demographics
Historical population and ethnic composition of Shusha
Year Armenians Azerbaijanis Others Total

1823[14] 421 27.5% 1,111 72.5% 1,532

1830[70] 762 44.2% 963 55.8% 1,725

1851[132] 15,194

1885[133] 14,000 46.7% 16,000 53.3% 30,000

1886[134] 15,188 56.7% 11,595 43.3% 23 0.1% 26,806

1897[135] 14,420 55.7% 10,778 41.6% 683 2.6% 25,881

1904[136] 56.5% 43.2% 25,656

1908[137] 37,591

1910[138] 39,413

1914[139] 22,416 52.7% 18,836 44.3% 1,316 3.1% 42,568[a]

1916[140] 23,396 53.3% 19,091 43.5% 1,382 3.2% 43,869
March 1920: Massacre and expulsion of Armenian population by Azerbaijan
1921[141] 289 3.1% 8,894 96.4% 40 0.4% 9,223
1923[142] 209 3.0% 6,682 95.9% 74 1.1% 6,965
1926[134] 93 1.8% 4,900 96.4% 111 2.2% 5,104
1939[143] 1,476 27.2% 3,701 68.2% 247 4.5% 5,424
1959[144] 1,428 23.3% 4,453 72.8% 236 3.9% 6,117
1970[145] 1,540 17.7% 6,974 80.2% 179 2.1% 8,693
1979[146] 1,409 13.1% 9,216 85.5% 159 1.5% 10,784
September 1988: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Expulsion of Armenian population[147]

1989[148] 15,039

May 1992: Capture by Armenian forces. Expulsion of Azerbaijani population[149]

2005[150] 3,105 100% 3,105

2009[151] 3,900 100% 3,900

2015[2] 4,064 100% 4,064

November 2020: Capture by Azerbaijani forces. Exodus of Armenian population

According to the first Russian-held census of 1823 conducted by Russian officials
Yermolov and Mogilevsky, in Shusha were 1,111 (72.5%) Muslim families and 421
(27.5%) Armenian families.[14][page needed] Seven years later, according to 1830 data, the
number of Muslim families in Shusha decreased to 963 (55.8%) and the number of
Armenian families increased to 762 (44.2%).[70][152]
George Keppel, the Earl of Albemarle, who wrote on his way back to England from India
arrived in Karabakh from Persia in 1824, wrote that “Sheesha contains two thousand
houses: three parts of the inhabitants are Tartars (i.e. Azerbaijanis), and the remainder
Armenians”.[153]

Shusha in 2015
A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823 shows that all Armenians
of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five
traditional Armenian principalities, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on
those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the five districts had 57
Armenian villages and seven Tatar villages.[71][154]
The 19th century also brought some alterations to the ethnic demographics of the
region. Following the invasions from Iran (Persia), Russo-Persian wars and subjection
of Karabakh khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Iran while many
Armenians moved to Shusha.[70]
In 1851, the population of Shusha was 15,194 people,[132] in 1885 – 30,000,[133] and in
1910 – 39,413.[138]
By the end of the 1880s, the percentage of the Muslim population living in the Shusha
district (part of the earlier Karabakh province) decreased even further and constituted
only 41.5%, while the percentage of the Armenian population living in the same district
increased to 58.2% in 1886.
By the second half of the 19th century, Shusha had become the largest town in the
Karabakh region. However, after the pogrom against the Armenian population in 1920
and the burning of the town, out-migration, and its decreasing economic importance in
relation to other regional cities like Yerevan and Baku, Shusha was reduced to a small
provincial town of some 10,000 people. Its population afterward progressively dropped
year by year, reaching 5,104 by 1926.[155] Armenians did not begin to return until
after World War II. It was not until the 1960s that the Armenian quarter began to be
rebuilt.
According to the last population census in 1989, the town of Shusha had a population of
17,000 and Shusha district had a population of 23,000. 91.7% of the population of
Shusha district and 98% of Shusha town were Azerbaijani.[156]
Following the capture of Shusha by the Armenian forces in 1992, the Azerbaijani
population of the town, consisting of 15,000 people,[157] was killed and expulsed.[158] Before
the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, the population consisted of over 4,000 Armenians,
[2]
mainly refugees from Baku,[159][160] and other parts of Karabakh and Azerbaijan.[161][162] As a
result of the first war, no Azerbaijanis live in Shusha today, although Azerbaijani
authorities plan to repopulate it with Azerbaijani displaced persons who fled Shusha
during the first war.[156][163][164] Shusha's Armenian population fled shortly before the city was
recaptured by Azerbaijani forces during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.[165]

Economy and tourism

Shusha as seen from the road approaching the town

While the town was under Armenian control, there were efforts to revive the city's
economy by the Shushi Revival Fund,[166] the ArmeniaFund, and by the government
of Artsakh. Investment in tourism led to the opening of the Shushi Hotel, the Avan
Shushi Plaza Hotel and the Shushi Grand Hotel. A tourist information office was also
opened,[167] the first in the Republic of Artsakh. The two remaining Armenian churches
(Ghazanchetsots and Kanach Zham) were renovated, and schools, museums and the
Naregatsi Arts Institute have opened.
After retaking the town, Azerbaijani authorities renovated and inaugurated Khari
Bulbul[168] and Karabakh hotels.[169] In August 2021, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev laid
foundation stone for Hotel and Conference Center in Shusha.[170]

Twin towns – sister cities

 Gyöngyös, Hungary[171]
 Kayseri, Turkey[172]
 Turkistan, Kazakhstan[173]
 Erzurum, Turkey[174]
 Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria[175]

Notable natives
 Ibrahim Khalil Khan (1732-1806), Azerbaijani khan of the Karabakh Khanate.
 Gasim bey Zakir (1784–1857), Azerbaijani poet.
 Jafargulu agha Javanshir (1787–1867), Azerbaijani poet and major general of
the Imperial Russian Army.
 Abbasqoli Mo'tamad-dawla Javanshir (1804-1862), Azerbaijani statesman
and first minister of justice of Iran.
 Karbalayi Safikhan Karabakhi (1820–1879), Azerbaijani architect and one of
the representatives of Karabakh architecture schools.
 Ivan Davidovich Lazarev (1820–1879), Armenian lieutenant-general of the
Imperial Russian Army.
 Usta Gambar Karabakhi (1830–1905), Azerbaijani ornamentalist painter.
 Khurshidbanu Natavan (1832–1897), one of the best lyrical poets of
Azerbaijan.
 Sadigjan (1846–1902), Azerbaijani musician.
 Muratsan (1854–1908), Armenian writer and novelist.
 Karim bey Mehmandarov (1854-1929), Azerbaijani physician, founder of the
Russian-Azerbaijani Shusha girls school.
 Amanullah Mirza Qajar (1857–1937), prince of Iran's Qajar dynasty. Major
general in the Russian Empire and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, later
military figure and politician in Iran.
 Leo (1860–1932), Armenian historian.
 Stepan Aghajanian (1863–1940), Armenian painter.
 Hambardzum Arakelian (1865–1918), Armenian journalist and public activist.
 Alexander Atabekian (1868–1933), prominent Armenian anarchist.
 Ahmet Ağaoğlu (1869–1939), Azerbaijani politician and journalist.
 Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev (1870–1933), Azerbaijani playwright, stage
director, politician and public figure.
 Feyzullah Mirza Qajar (1872–1920), prince of Iran's Qajar dynasty. Major
general in the Russian Empire and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, later
military figure and politician in Iran.
 Suleyman Sani Akhundov (1875–1939), Azerbaijani playwright and journalist.
 Vartan Sarkisov (1875–1955), Soviet-Armenian architect.
 Freidun Aghalyan (1876–1944), Armenian architect.
 Tuman Tumanian (1879–1906), Armenian liberation movement leader.
 Zulfugar Hajibeyov (1884–1950), Soviet-Azerbaijani composer.
 Ahmed Agdamski (1884–1954), Soviet-Azerbaijani opera singer.
 Arsen Terteryan (1882–1953), Soviet-Armenian scientist.
 Artashes Babalian (1886–1959), a politician of the First Republic of Armenia.
 Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan (1886–1937), Soviet-Armenian statesman.
 Hayk Gyulikekhvyan (1886–1951), Armenian literary critic.
 Ashot Hovhannisyan (1887–1972), Soviet-Armenian statesman and historian.
 Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli (1887–1943), Soviet-Azerbaijani and writer.
 Nariman bey Narimanbeyov (1889–1937), Azerbaijani lawyer and statesman.
 Mikael Arutchian (1897–1961), Soviet-Armenian painter.
 Bulbul (1897–1961), Soviet-Azerbaijani opera tenor and folk music performer,
father of Polad Bülbüloğlu, Azerbaijani singer, actor and diplomat.
 Ivan Tevosian (1902–1958), Soviet-Armenian statesman.
 Khan Shushinski (1901–1979), was an Azerbaijani khananda folk singer.
 Süreyya Ağaoğlu (1903–1989), Turkish Azerbaijani origin writer, jurist, and
the first female lawyer in Turkish history.
 Ivan Knunyants (1906–1990), Soviet-Armenian chemist.
 Latif Karimov (1906–1991), Azerbaijani carpet designer known for his
contributions to a variety of artistic fields, as well as for a number of books
classifying and describing various designs of Azerbaijani rugs.
 Gevork Kotiantz (1909–1996), Soviet-Armenian painter.
 Shamsi Badalbeyli (1911–1987), Soviet-Azerbaijani actor and theatre
director.
 Nelson Stepanyan (1913–1944), Soviet-Armenian pilot and Lieutenant–
Colonel of the Red Army.
 Barat Shakinskaya (1914–1999), Soviet-Azerbaijani actress.
 Gurgen Boryan (1915–1971), Soviet-Armenian poet and playwright.
 Soltan Hajibeyov (1919–1974), Soviet-Azerbaijani composer.
  Seyran Ohanyan (born 1962), Armenian politician and military commander.

See also
 List of Azerbaijanis from Shusha
 List of Armenians from Shusha

Notes
1. ^ Also appears as 42,586 in the list of populated places in the Caucasus.[139]

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գիտությունների թեկնածու Արտակ Վարդանյանը" [All of Shushi's names, Armenian
or foreign-language, are Armenian - states Candidate of Philological Sciences Artak
Vardanyan]. www.aravot.am (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 20 February 2021.
Retrieved 26 March 2021. The most reliable version of the etymology of the name of the
fortified city of Shushi is that it came from the Artsakh dialect's shosh (tree sprout, high place,
height)... The name of the village Shosh, not far from Shushi, obviously also comes from this.
30. ^ Jump up to:a b Vardanyan, Artak (4 February 2021). "ՀԱՅԱՀՈՒՆՉ ՈՒ ՀԱՅԱՇՈՒՆՉ
ՇՈՒՇԻ" [Armenian-sounding and Armenian-breathing Shushi]. RA NAA Language Institute
named after H. Acharyan. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 26
June 2022. The most reliable version of the etymology of the fortress city of Shushi... is the
derivation of the place name from the word shosh ("tree branch", "high place", "height") of
the Artsakh dialect.
31. ^ Jump up to:a b Khachikyan L. S., (1955), Memorial records in Armenian manuscripts of 15 c.,
Part I (1401–1450) Archived 2014-12-13 at the Wayback Machine, Publish. of Academy of
Sciences of ArmSSR, p. 384. (in Armenian)
32. ^ Jump up to:a b Hakobyan, T. Kh.; Melik-Bakhshyan, St. T.; Barseghyan, H. Kh.
(1991). "Shushi". Hayastani ev harakitsʻ shrjanneri teghanunneri baṛaran [Dictionary of
toponymy of Armenia and adjacent territories] (in Armenian). Vol. 4. Yerevan State
 University. p. 161. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 16
December 2020.
33. ^ Boris Baratov. A Journey to Karabakh. Moscow, 1998, pp. 32–33.
34. ^ Hravard Hakobian. Miniatures of Artsakh and Utik 13th–14th centuries. Yerevan, 1989, p.
25.
35. ^ Bishop Makar Barkhudariants, Patmutiun Aghvanits ashkhari [History of the country of
Aghvank], vol. 1, Vagharshapat, 1902, p. 384.
36. ^ Ulubabyan B. A., "The Principality of Lower Khachen, 14th-15th centuries." Archived 2013-
11-04 at the Wayback Machine, Patma-Banasirakan Handes 11 (1972): pp. 95–108, here p.
105.
37. ^ Barkhudariants, Bishop Makar (1895). "The City of Shushi (Շուշի
քաղաք)". Artsakh (PDF) (in Armenian). Baku: Aror publishing house.
p. 137. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
38. ^ Hasratyan, M.; Ulubabyan, B. (1982). "Shushi". In Hambardzumyan, Viktor (ed.). Soviet
Armenian Encyclopedia (in Armenian). Vol. 8. Yerevan. pp. 599–601. Archived from the
original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
39. ^ Jump up to:a b Цагарели, А. А. (1891). Грамоты и другие исторические документы
XVIII столетия относящиеся к Грузии : Том I [Letters and other historical documents of
the 18th century regarding Georgia, Vol. 1] (PDF). Saint Petersburg. pp. 434–
435. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021. когдажъ
персицкаго шаха нестало, то сь их же стороны одинъ человекъ, закону
магометанскаго и отъ народа жаванширскаго, принялъ силу; среди того правления,
Хамсы, состоитъ старинная крепость, которая имъ обманомъ взята...
40. ^ Армяно-русские отношения в XVIII веке. Т. IV. С. 212, as cited in Магалян, Артак
(2010). "Арцахские меликства и возникновение Карабахского ханства" [The melikates
of Artsakh and the emergence of the Karabakh Khanate]. In Айрапетов, О. Р.; Йованович,
Мирослав; Колеров, М. А.; Меннинг, Брюс; Чейсти, Пол (eds.). Русский Сборник
Исследования По Истории России [Russian collection of research on the history of
Russia] (PDF). Vol. VIII. Модест Колеров. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-5-91150-034-4. Archived
from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2012. In [Archbishop Hovsep] Argutyan's letter to
General Pavel Potemkin dated January 28, 1783, we read: 'The council of Melik Adam, Melik
Hovsep and Melik Esai was united, but among them was the schismatic Melik Shahnazar,
who was a cunning man, faithless and unfit for good deeds, treacherous and traitorous
towards his brothers. A certain tribe called Javanshir comes to Karabakh, like homeless
wanderers on the land, doing robbery and wandering in tents, the leader of which was named
Panah Khan. Melik Shahnazar, cunning in his evil deeds, called him to help him, obeyed him
of his own free will and handed over his fortress.'
41. ^ Bournoutian, George A. Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796: A Documentary Record. Costa
Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001, Armenian Military Activities in Karabakh and Ghapan,
pages 402-413
42. ^ Bournoutian, George A. (2001). "Kekhva Chelebi's Report to the Collegium of [Russian]
Foreign Affairs (17 December 1725)". Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796 : a documentary
record. Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 1-56859-132-
2. OCLC 45136635. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 26
March 2021.
43. ^ Jump up to:a b Нерсисян, М. Г. (1981). "II. Бумаги А. В. Суворова об Армении,
Закавказье и Персии - Рапорты А. В. Суворова князю Г. А. Потемкину" [II. A. V.
Suvorov's papers about Armenia, Transcaucasian and Persia - A. V. Suvorov's reports to
Prince G. A. Potemkin]. А.В. Суворов и русско-армянские отношения в 1770-1780-х
годах [A. V. Suvorov and Russian-Armenian relations in the 1770s-1780s]. Yerevan:
Айастан. p. 130. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Мелик Шах-Назар
может собрать войска близ 1000 человек; сей предатель своего отечества призвал
Панахана, бывшего прежде начальником не знатной части кочующих магометан
близ границ карабагских, отдал ему в руки свой крепкий замок Шушикала и учинился
ему с его сигнагом покорным.
44. ^ Bournoutian, George A. Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796: A Documentary Record. Costa
Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2001, pp. 134, 269.
45. ^ S.M.Bronesvskiy. Historical Notes... Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine St.
Petersburg,1996. Исторические выписки о сношениях России с Персиею, Грузиею и
вообще с горскими народами, в Кавказе обитающими, со времён Ивана Васильевича
доныне». СПб. 1996, секция "Карабаг". Bronesvskiy writes: "Мелик Шахназор призвал к
себе на помощь владетеля кочующаго чавонширскаго народа Фона хана и здал ему
крепость Шуши."
46. ^ Бутков, П. Г. (1869). Материалы для новой истории Кавказа с 1722 по 1803 год.
Saint Petersburg. ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ М. к стр. 236. "Приложение И". Archived from the
original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
47. ^ Also see Walker Christopher "The Armenian Presence in Mountainous Karabakh" in
"Transcaucasian Boundaries" (SOAS/GRC Geopolitics) edited by John Wright, Richard
Schofield, Suzanne Goldenberg, 1995 p. 93 "South of Khachen lay the small territory of
Varanda, originally part of its southern neighbour, Dizak, and only given a separate identity in
the early sixteenth century. The ruling family, confirmed in that capacity by Shah Abbas I,
was that of the Melik Shahnazarians. In the territory of Varanda lies the modern town of
Shushi (or Shusha)"
48. ^ Joseph Wolff. Travels and Adventures of the Rev. Joseph Wolff Archived 7 September
2021 at the Wayback Machine. London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1861, p. 226.
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51. ^ Jump up to:a b Bournoutian George A. A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of
Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-E Qarabagh. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers,
1994, p. 72. The original text by Mirza Jamal Javanshir calls the village "Shoshi."
52. ^ Jump up to:a b c (in Russian) Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. The History of
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February 2021. In November the Karabagh Armenians rejected proposals for further
submission presented by an Azerbaijani governmental delegation which demonstrated the
weakness of the August accords... Sultanov took control of the Karkar Valley while
massacring the Armenian population of several villages on 22 February, including Khankend
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79. ^ Mutafyan Claude (1994) "Karabagh in the twentieth century." In Chorbajyan Levon,
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