Shusha

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

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
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 is located in Azerbaijan
Shusha / Shushi
Shusha / Shushi
Shusha / Shushi is located in Karabakh Economic Region
Shusha / Shushi
Shusha / Shushi
Coordinates: 39°45′30″N 46°44′54″E / 39.75833°N 46.74833°E / 39.75833; 46.74833
Country Azerbaijan
RegionKarabakh
DistrictShusha
Government
 • MayorBayram Safarov
 • Special representativeAydin 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 zoneUTC+4 (AZT)
ISO 3166 codeAZ-SUS
Vehicle registration58 AZ
Websiteshusha-ih.gov.az

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

  1. ^ "Айдын Керимов назначен спецпредставителем Президента Азербайджана в Шушинском районе - Распоряжение". Trend News Agency (in Russian). 27 January 2021. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2015 pop was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Bosworth, C.E. (1978). "Ḳarā Bāg̲h̲". In van Donzel, E.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch. & Bosworth, C. E. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume IV: Iran–Kha. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 573. OCLC 758278456.
  4. ^ Raffi (1918). "The Five Melikdoms of Karabagh". The Adventures of Hovsep Emin. Calcutta. p. 335. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2021. Shahnazar needed an ally, and he found one ready to his hand in the Jevanshir ... the two constructed a fort on the banks of the river Karkar as quickly as they could in the intervals of fighting the four Meliks. Shahnazar laid the foundation stone, and the fortress was completed in 1752, the people of the village of Shoshi were brought to live there, and it was named Shoshi or Shushi fortress{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890–1907). Shusha. St Petersburg. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013. Shusha was founded in 1752 by Panakh-Ali-bek and got its name from the village of Shushikent, located not far away and existing to this day.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Walker 2000, p. 297.
  7. ^ Krunk Hayots Ashkharhin. 8 (1863): p. 622, 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 (PDF). Vol. VIII. Модест Колеров. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-5-91150-034-4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2012. Shahnazar, Melik of Varanda, fearing the alliance between the Melik of Charaberd Adam and the Melik of Gyulistan Hovsep, became friends with Panah Khan and gave him his settlement, the fortress of Shusha, as well as his daughter as wife.
  8. ^ Timothy C. Dowling Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond Archived 2015-06-26 at the Wayback Machine pp 728 ABC-CLIO, 2 dec. 2014 ISBN 1598849484
  9. ^ "Azerbaijan" (2007) In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 3, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-44296 Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Suny, Ronald (1996). Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. DIANE Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 0788128132.
  11. ^ De Waal 2003, p. 189.
  12. ^ Mattew O'Brien. Uzeir Hajibeyov and His Role in the Development of Musical Life in Azerbaijan. – Routledge, 2004. – С. 211. – ISBN 0-415-30219-6, 9780415302197
  13. ^ Walker 2000, pp. 167–171, 172–173, 297.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tbilisi 1866 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. (1996). The Republic of Armenia, Volume III: From London to Sèvres, February - August 1920. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 152. ISBN 0520088034. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021. The chief of police, Avetis Ter-Ghukasian, was turned into a human torch, and many intellectuals, including Bolshevik Alexandre Dsaturian, were among the 500 Armenian victims.
  16. ^ De Waal 2003, p. 202.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference nesl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Muth, Sebastian (2016). "Language Removal, Commodification and the Negotiation of Cultural Identity in Nagorno-Karabakh". Conflict, Exclusion and Dissent in the Linguistic Landscape. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-42627-7.
  19. ^ "Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia sign peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh". edition.cnn.com. CNN. 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Президент Арцаха прокомментировал мир с Азербайджаном". www.mk.ru (in Russian). 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  21. ^ Lori Khatchadourian; Ian Lindsay; Adam T. Smith (June 2021). "Caucasus Heritage Watch: Monitoring Report #1". Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies: Cornell University. p. 19. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021. In sum, there are real and present threats to the integrity of the heritage landscape of Nagorno Karabakh that result from a range of factors from development work undertaken without sufficient attention to heritage sites to intentional acts against Armenian monuments.
  22. ^ "Azerbaijan: Attack on Church Possible War Crime". Human Rights Watch. 16 December 2020. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  23. ^ Kucera, Joshua (7 May 2021). "Azerbaijan begins controversial renovation of Armenian church". Eurasianet. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  24. ^ Isayev, Heydar (21 March 2023). "Azerbaijan launches multi-day tours of Shusha". Eurasianet. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.