Battle of Aghdam

Battle of Aghdam
Part of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Date12 June – 23 July 1993
Location
Aghdam, Azerbaijan
Result

Armenian victory

  • Armenian control until 2020
  • Displacement of Azerbaijani civilians according to Human Rights Watch[1]
  • Aghdam becomes a ghost town until 2020
Belligerents
Armenia
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic		 Azerbaijan
Commanders and leaders
Samvel Babayan
Anatoly Zinevich
Vitaly Balasanyan
Monte Melkonian †[2]		 Talib Mammadov
Strength
6,000 troops,
1 squadron of Mi-24's
~ 60 tanks[citation needed]		 6,000 troops,
unknown number of tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and Mi-24 helicopters[citation needed]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown
~130,000 civilians displaced from the town and surrounding Aghdam District[3]

The Battle of Aghdam (June – July 1993) took place on 23 July 1993 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which Armenian forces captured the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam. The city of Aghdam, which had about 50,000 inhabitants prior to its capture, is located about 30 km northeast of Stepanakert and 5 km east of the border of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Armenian forces considered Aghdam as a main staging area of Azerbaijani forces for attacks and artillery strikes against the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region.[1] A significant part of the surrounding Aghdam District was captured by Armenian forces as well.

According to Human Rights Watch, Armenian forces used the power vacuum in Azerbaijan at the time, and seized Aghdam in July 1993. HRW reported that "during their offensive against Aghdam, Karabakh Armenian forces committed several violations of the rules of war, including hostage-taking, indiscriminate fire, and the forcible displacement of civilians". After the city was seized, it was intentionally looted and burned under orders of Karabakh Armenian authorities in retaliation for Azerbaijan's destruction of the Armenian-populated city of Martakert.[1] BBC reported that every single Azeri house in the town was blown up to discourage return.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (PDF). Human Rights Watch/Helsinki. December 1, 1994. pp. 18–36. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  2. ^ De Waal 2003, p. 208.
  3. ^ "Azerbaijan enters Nagorno-Karabakh district after peace deal". Al Jazeera. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  4. ^ Parsons, Robert (3 June 2000). "Tug-of-war for Nagorno-Karabakh". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2010. Retrieved 26 July 2010.