President of Azerbaijan: “I congratulate the people of Azerbaijan and the people of Shusha”
The Azerbaijani Army has taken control of Shusha. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced this during his address to the nation on November 8.
Founded in 1930, Shusha district is located in the Karabakh range of the Lesser Caucasus. Shusha, with an area of 289 square kilometers, had an estimated displaced population of 32,800 in 2016.
The territory of Shusha region includes one city and 31 villages. The center is the city of Shusha. The region had been occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces on 8 May, 1992.
The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, was declared independent by ethnic Armenians living there as the Soviet Union collapsed. An estimated 30,000 were killed when the conflict turned into a full-fledged war,. A ceasefire signed in 1994 under the auspices of Moscow put a fragile end to a large-scale conflict. Peace talks mediated by France, US and Russia were unsuccessful and since then, conflict is volatile, with flare-ups sporadically occurring.
