SHUSHI - THE CITY OF TRAGIC FATE

Shushi¹, the former administrative center of Artsakh-Karabagh, is situated almost in the centre of Nagorno Karahagh Republic (NKR), not far from its capital Stepanakert. Like a stork's nest that has a formidable view of all surrounding terrain, Shushi proudly sits on top of a plateau that crowns a steep mountain. Gardens and fields stretch to the North and South at its foot, while the Karkar river flows through a gorge that lines the city from the Southeast.

The name Shushi derives from the word "shosh". In the local Karabaghi dialect a young tall tree was referred to as "shoshi tsar" (shoshi tree), the plural of which was "shoshot". According to available sources in the ancient times the territory of the city/fortress and ifs entire environs were covered with woods. A similar opinion of Artsakh was expressed by Strabo. Persian and Arab travellers. as well as medieval Armenian authors. Even today it would be easy to demonstrate that the names of dozens of settlements of the region relate to the specific features of the land, its vegetation. A few examples should suffice: Gyune. Huse Kaler. Kaghnot, Peghi (Bokhi) spring. Karaglukh, Kanach tala, Yeghtsahogh, Hunkutala, Tsmakahogh, Tsakhkadzor. Kavahan. Ttot. Karin tak, Karaghbyur. Sarushen, Moshkhmat etc.

The bed of the plaleau is not level and lakes up the territory of 350 hectares. It rolls smoothly from its highest altitude at Southwest (1, 600 m) towards the low area in the Northeastern part (1, 300 m) where it ends abruptly, as though suspended in midair over the Khunot ravine. The Western part of me plateau is like an immense amphitheatre that dominates the Eastern lowland. Closer to the centre the plaleau is traversed by a range of small hills that decrease in altitude towards me East. One may add to this that the air in Shushi has healing properties and that the climate is mild. By virtue of the balmy inoffensive humidity and the loose mist, as noted by the famous author Marietta Shahinian, the climate of Shushi resembles rather marine than continental. These features of Shushi have affected the building of the city and made it a picturesque spot.

Incidentally, Shushi has not only been distinguished by its strategic significance, it is of no less importance that it also has been the political and cultural centre of Karabagh. The political and social consciousness of Karabagh, its academic and cultural elite have been forged here.
In times immemorial one of the warlords has stated that whoever lakes over Shushi shall rule over the entire Karabagh. Nowadays it is no great secret that control over Karabagh theoretically means leverage over the entire Transcaucasia, and not Transcaucasia only. That is, perhaps, the reason why this diehard region attracts the interests of many.

The medieval history of Armenia contains numerous references to the indomitable fortress of Shushi as the singular gift of nature. It has been an eagle's nest for the princes of Artsakh Sakhla Smbatian (ninth century A.D.), Hasan Jalalian (11 th century A.D.), melik Shahnazarian and commander Avan (17th-18th centuries A.D.).
The Shushi plateau is referred to in documents, sources and inscriptions as Kerts, Shosh, Karen glukh, Skhnakh glukh. Ancient monuments (cave dwellings, remains of city fortifications, the palace of melik Varanda, khachkars, capitals and tombslones that have Armenian inscriptions) date back to 9th-17th centuries.

Khachkars (11th-12th centuries) found
of the Northen slope of Shushi plateau.

    Until recently the ancient sanctuary Kamu khach was still intact on the territory of the modern city. It was a place of pilgrimage for the people from the numerous neighboring Armenian settlements for many centuries. In the Northern part of the Shushi plateau the remains of a big settlement called Zarist may be detected. There are references to it on the ancient maps of Armenia, as well as in the inaugural inscription of the main church of Gtchavank (13th A.D.).
    In the beginning of the 18th century the Turkophone muslims of the Caucasus, at the instigation of the Turks, undertook frequent attacks on Armenia, killed its inhabitants and robbed their property. In order to withstand the onslaught self-defence units were established in Artsakh-Karabagh that became known in history as the "skhnakhs", which literally means fortification, shelter, a fortified site. In Russian sources the word "skhnakh" is frequently used to denote an Armenian gathering. Shushi was one of these skhnakh/fortresses. Some researchers, and especially academician Ashot Ioannisian, who has published the collection of documents "A Armeno-Russian relations in the first third of the 18th century", maintain that "the foundations of the fortifications of Shushi have been laid by centurion Avanes in 1724, if not earlier." These foundations have lasted to our days. An inscription on page 264 of manuscript # 4375 in the Matenadaran attests to the tact that there are references to the city of Shushi dated substantially earlier than the 18th century. It reads: "In the region of Pos of the province of Varanda in a village called Shusho, under the patronage of Saint Stepanos... in the Summer of 1024 (1575)."
    The Foreign Policy Archive of Russia has letters, petitions and other documents pertaining to Armenian meliks and commanders of Karabagh, written between 1724-26 in the skhnakh of Shosh or the Shoshva-berd. The following arc some excerpts from the above documents that immediately relate (to the skhnakh of Shosh, that is to Shushi. The "Extensive report on the events in Karabagh of June 18, 1724" was written in the newly built skhnakh of Karaglukh (FPAR F 100, 1739, d. 2, p. 59 and original). On January 5 of the same year "we, the heads of the skhnakh of Shoshi, me youzbashi Avan and me, youzbashi Mirza, as well as all the old and young ones of the skhnakh..." (ibid, p. 46 and original). On November 15, 1726, youzbashi Avan reports to the commander of the Russian troops that the Ottomans "with their army have attacked Shoshi, the fortress of youzbashi Avan and youzbashi Ohan. They have captured half of the rock but failed to advance any farther." (ibid, p. 49 and original).
    As is known, by virtue of intensive activities of Israel Ori, the meliks, the centurions and the clergy the self defence efforts of the Armenians of Karabagh at the beginning of the 18th century transformed into a national liberation movement with the objective of shedding the Persian and Turkish yoke with the assistance of Russia and obtain political independence for the entire Armenian people.

The Hunot gorge from the East, the Shushi plateau is on the right, the Khachintap plateau is on the left

Inspired by the sympathetic attitude of Peter the Great the liberation forces of Karabagh undertook the main burden of (he resistance. In no time the region became the cradle of the national-political consciousness, new fortified military camps/skhnakhs were being established one after the other.
One of such skhnakhs, according to the above mentioned documents, was built between 1719-1724 at the site of present day Shushi by Avan the centurion. A reference to the foundation and building of Shushi is also contained in the letter to the Russian court by a Russian general Matyushkin, dated December 19, 1726. He writes that "centurion Avan, in response to the requests of the population of Karabagh, does not proceed towards Gilan with his ten thousand people. He stays in the skhnakh instead and is building a fortress." (A. G. Abramian, "A page from the history of the peoples of Transcaucasia and armeno-Russian relations", Yerevan, 1953, page 121).

     Another famous figure of the time, Ivan Karapet, in his report on the status of Gandzak, Karabagh and Georgia (at the beginning of February of 1724) also informs about the skhnakh of Shushi and its rulers, the Armenian meliks and centurions (Armeno-Russian relations, vol. 2, part 2, page 69). Several Georgian sources contain interesting information on the fortress of Shushi. In the "Description of the countries bordering on Georgia and Kakhetia" compiled in 1798 by Irakli there is a section devoted to the Armenian principalities of Karabagh,which, in particular, contains the following passage: "Here in the skhnakh of Shushi there was an ancient fortress, which was laler conquered by the self-proclaimed jivanshir Panakh-khan." (A, A. Tsagareli, The deed and other historical documents of (he 18th century pertaining to Georgia, St Petersburg, 1891, pp 434-435.)
    The documents of the above-mentioned collection refer to the rocky plateau as the Shushi kala or kar (from the Armenian "kar" - rock) to denote ihe fortress. The name of the village Karin tak south of the fortress on the left bank of Karkar river also goes back (to the original kar-fortress.
    The existence of the above-mentioned and other archival and epigraphic sources disproves the delusion spread among Azeri researchers, according to which the fortress of Shushi has been founded by Panakh khan.

    As unanimously attested by written and archival sources Panakh Ali khan was the first foreigner head of a nomadic tribe of Sarijallu, which in the middle of the 18th century, almost accidentally, solely by virtue of convergence of certain political circumstances, appeared in the region. He was fleeing persecution in Iran where he had been condemned to death, and the Armenian princes, out of human compassion, have offered him refuge in the central gavar of Khachen. This compassion became the source of trouble, endless suffering and has resulted in the indigenous population being enslaved by nomadic tribes that had no national identity and were referred to in literature as Muslims, that is Mohammedans, and were later called alternatively either "Caucasian Tartars" or "Caucasian Turks."
    This is (he reason why even the Shushi khans themselves (Panakh Ali and his son Ibrahim), who are constantly referred to by Azerbaijani academies as being Azeris, did not have a slightest idea about the existence of such an ethnic unit. This is duly confirmed by all chronicles published in Baku that recount the deeds of the khans. Thus, prior to the beginning of the 20th century history does not know a people called Azeris. The fact that there has been no reference to Azerbaijan prior to 1918 neither in historical, nor in governmental records is explained by the non-existence of such entity.
    Following the death of Nadir Shah in 1747 anarchy and chaos settled in Persia, fleeing which the nomadic tribes of the Jevanshir resettled from the Iranian province of Khorasan into the plains of Karahagh. Later on they were joined by the lesser tribes of the Demurchi-Hassanli, the Jinli from Georgia, some of the Kengaru from Nakhijevan, as well as the Shakhsevans from Mughan. Out of the plains of Karabagh they then first intruded the Artsakh gavars on foothills and, later, through treason of one of the Armenian meliks Shahnazar II, Panakh Ali, the chieftain of those Muslin nomads, usurped the the melikdoms and took over the mighty fortress of Shushi without firing a single shot. The devious and cunning "guest" thus became the dagger plunged into the heart of Karabagh, that succeeded in disrupting the unity of the meliks of the region. And though he lacked geographic, social-economic, cultural-historical and, moreover, ethnic premises on the land of Karabagh, but, as already mentioned, he took advantage of an unexpected twist in the political developments in Persia, as well as of internal strife among the Armenian meliks of Artsakh-Karabagh, proclaiming himself the self-appointed Khan over Christian Karabagh. He then began incessant wars with the meliks of the region. He populated Shushi with additional Muslim tribes, not to mention an assortment of criminal bands. This foreigner not only succeeded in conquering Shushi but also made its real ruler, the traitor Melik Shahnazar his vassal, deciding to put an end to the true rulers of Artsakh, meliks and the Armenian population under their reign. According to great Russian commander A. Suvorov "Melik Shahnazar... this traitor to his fatherland invited Panakh, handed him over his stalwart fortress of Shushikala and submitted to him along with his skhnakh." (Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, fund 99, file 13, op. 2, pp 67-68). Thus Panakh started, and his successors continued, with the assistance of the Turkish pashas and Persian Khans, to rob, mistreat and persecute the indigenous population of the region, and this lasted for almost half a century until the establishment in 1805 of the Russian role in Artsakh.
    In response to the brutality, humiliation and violence a stubborn resistance emerged and began to grow among the people. If Shushi had been the powerful shield for the Armenians prior to the arrival Panakh Ali, it became a prison during the reign of the khans.

    There is valuable information about the rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Shushi through the years 1750-1752 in me manuscript "The history of the region of Artsakh", preserved in the Matenadaran Institute of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan (Ms #2734). In it Deacon Hakob Shushetsi truthfully and in great detail describes the construction work, the hard toil of the Karabaghis in rebuilding the fortress. The manuscript tells that the structure erected had fifty turrets and walls five thousand feet long.
    The fortress walls that are 2.5 km long commence at the rocky massif overhanging the canyon at the Southwestern part of the plateau, descending down the steep slopes into the gorge and merging into the vertical rocks on the Eastern side. The Southern part of Shushi is completely protected by powerful steep cliffs mat also provide protection for part of the Eastern flank. This convenient geographic position for a city fortress caught the attention of Hakob Shushetsi, who mentions in the above manuscript that "the initiatives referred to pertain only to one half of the fortress, while the other half, as I mentioned, has been fortified by God himself."
    The walls of the fortress, inaccessible for the military equipment of the time, were 7 to 8 meters high, reinforced by with semicircular hollow turrets. The four gates of the fortress were quite remarkable both in their architectural and fimctional aspects.
    The Northeastern gates were formerly called Jraberd Gates, later on they became Gandzak-Elizabethpole Gates. The Southwestern gates were called Yerevan Gates, the Southern gates were Amars Gates and the Eastern gates were called Mkhitarashen Gates. The Jraberd-Elizabethpole and Yerevan gates played an important role in the history of the city. Merchant caravans, wagons and horsemen were let in through these principal gates. The remaining auxiliary gates were only for pedestrians and provided shortcuts to connect the city wilh the settlements of Varanda.
    The city fortress, like other similar structures of medieval Artsakh, had its secret access. A flight of stairs carved into the rock at the Yerevan gates led to a maze of caves opening into the canyon of river Karin tak.
    According to an unearthed epigraphic inscription, as well as to other written sources, the construction of the walls encircling the center of the Varand melikdom Avetaranots-Chahakhchi was completed in 1740, almost 10 years before the beginning of the reconstruction oflhe defence system of Shushi (1750). The extensive experience accumulated in building fortresses in Avetaranots was utilized in the construction of the Shushi fortress, this included the masonry techniques and the sizes of the stone blocks. This means that the reconstruction was done by experienced masons and fortification experts, that have gained significant experience and qualifications at the melik's residence.
    The fortresses-castles of Artsakh, along with their local features, have a lot in common with similar structures in other parts of Armenia (Lori, Hamberd, Smbataberd, the fortresses of Kayan, Kayotsn etc.). These are major defence complexes built in conformity with the principles of fortification in adhered to in medieval Armenia.

    Researchers unanimously state that following the fortification of the city walls Shushi became populated by farmers and artisans from the Armenian villages of Karabagh, Sunik, Nakhijevan, as well as by certain nomadic tribes. They settled according to national and compatriotic principles. The newly emerging districts were usually named after the former settlements of their inhabitants. The major old districts of Shushi were called Ghazanchelsots, Aguletsots, Meghretsots, Karabaghtsols etc.
    A significant part of the first inhabitants of Shushi were the Armenian farmers from Nagorno Karabagh (especially from the province of Varandi). This is quite natural, since the fortress was located at the border between the melikdoms of Kachen and Varandi. Shushi would not become what it was had there not been material and moral support extended from the neighboring villages. The growing and developing city was receiving from its villages not only food and the necessary raw materials, but also builders, warriors and other auxiliary workers.
    Nevertheless throughout the period of arbitrary rule and the cruel environment in Shushi, especially under Panakh Khan and his successor Ibrahim (1756-1806), no significant civil buildings were erected in the fortress, People lived in community dwellings called glkhatoons, sometimes they even lived in dug-out adobes or wooden huts densely and irregularly scattered over the Eastern part of the plateau. Even the buildings of religious and communal significance did not stand out from the general background. The churches had wooden roofs, and all auxiliary rooms were put together with planks. In other words Shushi was a grey, colorless and faceless settlement without national identity, with a characteristic imprint of the inept rule of undistinguished protegns, where everything was done with the sole purpose of ensuring the safely of the khans. It is not by accident that among the buildings that still stand in our days there is not a single one dating back to the 18th century. In vane are me attempts of Azeri author to retroactively attach plaques ascribing the building of this or that structure to the 17 th or even the 11th centuries. For example the caption on a postcard published in Moscow with a photograph of a fragment from the city walls reads: "A monument of Azerbaijani architecture of the 11th century". Not more, not less. Thus ignoring the incontestable fact that many of these buildings still have their intact inauguration inscriptions, dating them by the 19th or even the beginning of the 20th century. That is the reason why when making references to these periods they select arguments that have no factual substantiation. The effect sought is to mask the fierce disposition of the Shushi khans under the camouflage of "benefactors-builders".

    Throughout the entire 18th century the Armenians of Karabagh continued to conduct intensive negotiations with the Russian court, which had promised to assist in the restoration of the Armenian kingdom, including Artsakh with Shushi as its capital. This is attested my scores of archival documents, including the correspondence of Catherine II and Grigory Potemkin with the commander of the Southern army general Pavel Potemkin. Having reached an agreement with the queen, the former issues the general an order: "The khan of Shushi Ibrahim should be overthrown, since after that Karabagh shall become an independent Armenian... region. Spare no efforts in ensuring that the new authorities arrange everything to the people's best benefit." (See "The acts of the Caucasian archaeological commission" Vol. 2, Tiflis, 1868, doc. # 1714).
    With this respect Potemkin reported to the queen that the kingdom or principality soon to be proclaimed has to be headed by one of the meliks, extending his powers over entire Armenia. In other words Karabagh with its centre of Shushi was to become the core of the restoring Armenian statehood.
    Thus Karabagh became the place where the Russian orientation of the Armenian people took shape. For a long period of time the Armenians of Karabagh were fighting for liberation from under the yoke of the Shah's Persia and reunification with Russia. This was actively supported in the governmental circles of Russia and in its society as a whole.
    Nevertheless the liberation of Artsakh took materialized only at the veiy beginning of the 19th century. As a result of the Russo-Persian war of 1804-1812 Karabagh, along with other regions of Eastern Armenia, was joined to the Russian empire.
    Ninety seven percent of the population of Karabagh at that time were Armenian.
    The following are excerpts from deeds, rescripts and petitions of the Russian emperors, addressed to the Armenian people and the melika of Karabagh, that attest to their high esteem towards their fellow Christians and allies in the struggle with the common enemy.

FROM A DECREE BY EMPEROR PETER I

To the most honest patriarch Isaiah and most honest youzbashis Avan and Mirza, as well as to all other youzbashis and govemois, to the entire honest Armenian people we send our imperial grace and congratulation... November 10, 1724 ("Armeno-Russian relations in the first third of the 17th century", Yerevan, 1967, vol. 2. part II, page 208).

FROM A DEED BY EMPRESS CATHERINE I

To the most honest patriarchs Isaiah and Nerses, most honest owner Yaghan and youzbashi Avan, as well as to all other honest youzbashis and governors, to the entire honest Armenian people we send our imperial grace and congratulation... February 22,1726 (ibidem, page 269).

FROM A DEED BY EMPRESS CATHERINE II

To the most honest patriarch Simeon and to all other honest youzbashis and governors, to the entire honest Armenian people we send our imperial grace and congratulation... Similar to our honorable predecessors, of blessed memory and eternal glory their majesties the King Emperor Peter the Great and the Queen Empress Catherine Alexeevna, who had articulated their special good graces towards the Christian Armenian people in their deeds of 1724 and 1726... we, in continuation of the ordinance of our forbears promise to embrace with our royal grace and favor the most honest patriarch Simeon, as well as the future successors of his patriarchal throne, and also youzbashis and governors and the entire honest Armenian people... June 30, 1768 (Collection of acts pertaining to the review of the history of the Armenian people, Moscow 1833, part I, page 174-175).

FROM AN ADDRESS OF EMPEROR PAVEL I
TO THE MELIKS OF KARABAGH

To the honorable meliks of the sovereign and celebrated region of Karabagh Jemshid Shahnazarov, the ruler of Varanda and Fridon Beglarov, the ruler of Gulistan (the present-day Shahumian region, that, along with NKAO, formed the recently proclaimed Nagorno Karabagh Republic. Author's note) and to all other ruling meliks and youzbashis and the entire people of this celebrated region we send our imperial grace and favor... June 2, 1799 (Collection of acts pertaining to the review of the history of the Armenian people, Moscow 1833, part I, page 199).

FROM AN ADDRESS OF EMPEROR ALEXANDER I
TO THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE

    We send our imperial grace to the entire loyal Armenian people and to all of the estates that compose it... They have been distinguished by exemplary consistence and faithfulness and in the midst of troubled circumstances have remained stalwart and unshaken in their devotion to us and our throne, sacrificing their property and means and their own lives... Issued at our head-quarters in the town of Teplitsa in Bohemia on this 15 day of September 1813 A.D. (ibidem, page 258-259).

    The end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries became for Shushi (and not only for Shushi) the time of tribulations, when on one hand the Persians were attempting by all means to restore their lost supremacy, and on the other the Tsarist government was trying to irrevocably ensure the possession of Karabagh by Russia. In the course of 33 years Shushi along with the entire Armenian region ofArtsakh, was the site of terrible calamities.
    This brief historical period was rich in wars. Artsakh was often threatened from without and it is therefore quite natural that the Armenians of Karabagh fought bravely and always actively participated in combat.
    In 1793 the Persian army under the command of Suleiman Shahzadan rampaged through dozens of Armenian settlements and laid a siege to Shushi. Having encountered fierce resistance the army retreated, suffering great losses. Two years later in 1795 the Persian scrabazes under the command of the same Suleiman undertake several raids on Shushi with increased troops with the purpose of conquering it. They fail every time. The heroic defenders of Shushi taught the Persians lessons that made them ran away in panic.
    At the beginning of August of the same year, outraged by these defeats, Agha Mohammad Khan himself undertakes an attack on Shushi. The number of enemy troops that had besieged the Shushi this time reached 100 thousand people. The siege lasted for 33 days. And though the situation of the Armenian region was tragical, the Persian khan railed to suppress the resistance of the defenders of the city. The twelve thousand Armenian families that had dug in the inaccessible caves surrounding the city have extended invaluable assistance to the warriors and dwellers behind the city walls. The enemy has razed and burned down the settlements in the environs of Shushi.
    In the Spring of 1797 Agha Mohammad, already a Shah, attacks Shushi again with innumerable hordes. The khan of Shush) Ibrahim flees in horror, finding refuge with his harem in Dagestan and abandoning the defenders of the city. The Persians, actually without encountering serious resistance take over the upper city and initiate violent reprisals against its inhabitants. Suddenly a fair retribution takes place. The bloodthirsty Agha Mohammad Shah falls victim to his lackey's dagger right there in Shushi. The Persians flee in panic, and Ibrahim Khan, rejoiced, returns to Shushi.
    Eight years later in 1805 the Russian officials, lending their ears to the deceptive reassurance by Ibrahim Khan of his loyalty, conclude an agreement with him on Russian sovereignty. Nevertheless within barely a year the Persians undertake another campaign with the purpose of reconquering the Caucasian territories now under the Russian rule. In June of 1805 a Persian army over 40,000 men strong, burning and rampaging through dozens of Armenian villages and monasteries, intrudes the valley of Karkar to proceed on to Shushi and wipe out the Russian garrison stationed there.
    Ibrahim khan defaults on the agreement, changes his allegiance and tries to defect to Persians to overthrow the rule of the "infidel Russians" with their help. The Russian troops face a tough challenge and in this situation the supreme commander of the Russian army in the Caucasus Tsitsianov applies to Armenians for help. Prior to counter attacking the enemy, he addressed me Armenians of Karabagh with the following call: "Recall your courage, be ready for victories and prove that you are still the same brave Armenians of Karabagh that you were before, the terror of the Persian cavalry." (V. Potto, The first volunteers of Karabagh in the period of establishment of the Russian rule (Melik Vahan and youzbashi Atarbekov), Tiflis, 1902).
    The 400 men strong detachment of Kaiyagin that was headed to Shushi to help out was surrounded at Askeran in the village of Khramort, To rescue the Russian detachment from imminent death the volunteers from Karabagh, headed by Melik Vani and Hakob youzbashi Atarbekian, risked their lives and led the Russians out of the encirclement. The inhabitants of Kusapat and Mokhratagh saved the Russian soldiers from from starvation, sharing their provisions with them. Alexander Pushkin has noted the courage of the warriors of Karabagh in his renowned "Travels to Arzeroum."

All historians studying the history of Karabagh of this period are baffled at the tight-mindedness and stupidity of Russian officials end diplomats. Already in the last century Raffi, recounting the history of the meliks of Karabagh, wrote in amazement that the Russians have gained control over Karabagh with the help of the Karabagh meliks but made the sworn enemy of the latter Ibrahim khan the chief ruler over Kharabagh. Ibrahim khan subsequently betrayed the Russians and was executed by them for it. But they still replaced him with the elder son of the traitor, bestowing him with even more powers. The latter in his turn committed an even graver treason: in 1822 he fled Karabagh for Persia and joined the Persian troops in their campaign against Russians, Raffi did not understand what attrracted the Russians officials of the time in the treacherous khans, why did they prefer the latter to the Armenian meliks, who sacrificed everything to the benefit of Russia. (See in more detail Raffi "The melikdoms of Khamsa" Yerevan, 1965).

    Still, strange as it may seem, the conduits of Tsarist policies in Transcaucasia conclude yet another deal with the elder son of the traitor khan Mekhti Guli, assign him the rank of a major general, bestow upon him even greater powers and recognize him to be the successor to the khan's throne. In "gratitude" Mekhti khan reveals his ignoble essence.²
    A son worthy of his father, this hypocritical khan maintains "friendly" relations with the Persians on one hand, and on the other makes shows of loyalty and faithfulness towards the Russians. The khan proved his "faithfulness" when he fled to Persia prior to the last Russo-Persian war and got a nice appointment with the shah.
    As is known the last attempt of the heir to the Persian throne Abbas Miraa to conquer Karabagh took place in 1826. With an army numbering 60 thousand men with 30 cannons he suddenly intruded Karabagh on July 16. At the time there was only one Russian regiment there, the 42nd Grenadiers.

    The siege of Shushi began on the morning of July 24, when the horizon around the city turned black with the hordes of Abbas Mirza.
    One of the glorious pages of friendship and collaboration between the Armenian and Russian peoples was written in Shushi throughout the 48 days of its heroic defense, when the city turned into a bastion of resistance.
    Thousands of fanners fought side by side with the scanty Russian garrison, putting up fierce resistance to the enemy for 48 days and stopping its advance in the canyon ofKarkar, at the foot of the fortified city walls. This allowed the principal Russian troops stationed in Tiflis to prepare for a large scale counteroffensive.
    The reports of Russian military commanders and the works of historians that describe those centuries demonstrate that even in the hardest of times the Armenians of the region preferred to fall in their own fortresses, monasteries and canyons and to remain faithful to their sanctuaries than to surrender and die in slavery. Here is the address of archimandrite Khoren, the abbot of the Vardapet monastery, dated July 20, 1826: "Children of Hayastan, defenders of Shushi' For thousands of years an assortment of enemies have done their best to eradicate our land and our people. Where are they know, these foes? Their names are gone even from fairy tales, whereas Hayastan lives, the Armenian people lives on! This is because the oath given in combat has always been the same among us. Our fathers and grandfathers have not turned back on it, neither shall we. Let us vow to gain the victory with our Russian brothers or to die wilh them!" (See "Shuushi, Old postcards" Compiled by Shahen Mkrtchian, Yerevan 1990, postcard # 17).
    I cannot resist the temptation to quote here the address of the commander of the Shushi garrison colonel Reut: "Thank you, friends! The Supreme Commander was not mistaken in you, he never doubted that the Armenians shall come to help us in a time of hardship. I am sure (hat the ghizibashi shall never set foot behind the walls of the fortress of Shushi. The emperor shall not abandon you and shall not forget that in this decisive hour for Russia you stood up side by side with the soldier of the Russian army."
    In the course of those truculent days, when the very existence of Shushi was at stake, when the Russian soldiers were setting the standards of courage and bravery, the Armenian population of the region expressed its unshaken will to stand to the defence of their aliy and friend.
    Surrounded by the Persian satraps Shushi was going through fateful days. The situation was grave, asking for intervention from the outside. The circle of siege was airtight to the extent of making it extremely hazardous to try and sneak through it. One of the volunteers Harutyun Altounian from Hatcrk undertook the important mission. Risking his life he descended the cliffs at nighttime, went over the enemy positions, reached Tbilissi and reported to the Russian command on the situation. Harutyun returned within five days with a letter from the supreme commander of the Russian troops in the Caucasus general Yermolov.

The Armenians of Karabagh have come up with endless examples of courage and, heroism! Barutchi (powdermaker) Poghos made from 20 to 30 pounds of high quality gunpowder every day and gave it to the defenders of the fortress. Aghabck Kalantarian, the grandfather of the future general Ivan Lazarev, was in charge of the defense of one of the segments of the fortress adjacent to the Elizabethpole gates ("Lieutenant General Ivan Davidovich Lazarev" Tiflis, 1900). The flour mills of the village of Shosh were of utmost importance for the defenders of the fortress those days, the milk were tenaciously defended by brothers Safar and Rostom Tarkhanians. The women of Karabagh were also noted for their heroic deeds, one of such women, Hatai³, was renowned throughout Karabagh.

On the rocky path leading to Shushi from the mills of Shosh Hatai was suddenly attacked by several Persian soldiers that wanted to seize the flour. She grounded one of the soldiers, took his sabre and the rifle, disposed of the remaining (Soldiers and got the flour to the fortress intact.

The patriotism of Armenians was duly appreciated by the Russian command. The commander of the defense of Shushi colonel Reut writes to field marshal Paskcvich in one of his reports that the Persians have approached the fortress more than once but each time were thrown bach by the "brave jaegers and faithful Armenians." (State Military History Archive, file #4290, sheet 150). He then tells Yermolov the following: "I consider it my duty to inform about the Armenian defenders of the fortress that their contribution merits attention, since they fight with reckless courage, withstanding the many attacks of the enemy and throwing it back with great losses for the latter." (ibidem).

The siege of Shushi lasted until September 5. On that day the Iranian camp under Shushi received the unexpected news on the devastating defeat at Shamkhor of the vanguard of Abbas Mirza by general V. Madatov (born to an Armenian family in Karabagh). The Persians removed the siege of Shushi and diverted their forces against Madalov, The 48 day siege of Shushi was over. (Sec Arakel Kostanian from the monastery of Gtich "The history of the battle of 1826 at Gandzak" MS, Central Military History Archive, File 4290. sheet 152).
Thus the defense of Shushi that had costed so much deprivation for its brave defenders "assumed the significance of not only a great military feat, but also a most important factor, that had an insurmountable impact on the course of the entire war." Georgia and its capital Tbilissi were saved from the horrors of Persian pogroms and devastation.

The coat of arms of Shushi.
Endorsed on May 21, 1843.

This was the point of view of emperor Nikolay Pavlovich, he bestowed upon the brave defenders of the fortress, the jaegers of the 42nd regiment the banner of St. George with an inscription that reads: "For the defence of Shushi against Persia in 1826." (Sec V. Potto "The heroic defence of the fortress of Shushi" St. Petersburg 1903, page 32).
The grateful Armenian people has erected a monument in memory of the Russian soldier, has used the word "Russian" and other Russian words to name settlements, fields and springs of their native region. (See in more detail Shahen Mkrtchian "Historical-architectural monuments of Nagorno-Karabagh" Yerevan 1989, page 179).