The Armed Conflicts In Caucasus And Russia

[MJ]

http://www.saferworld.org.uk/CaucasusRep.htm

[hytga]

The fighting in Nagorno Artsax and in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Oblast was

taking place against a backdrop of a rapidly deepening political crisis in Azerbaijan.

The republican authorities were completely paralysed, and by the start of January

actual power in Azerbaijan was in the hands of the APF. In several southern regions

of the country (the towns of Lenkoran and Jalilabad) the APF’s military groups took

power into their own hands, disarming the local police. The formation of voluntary

units for transfer to Nagorno Artsax was accelerated. Since there was still a great

shortage of weapons, in January 1990 attacks were launched on Soviet Army locations,

capturing several hundred sub-machine-guns, pistols,ammunition and even four

T-72 tanks.12 Although the tanks were later returned to the units, almost all the SALW

obtained were sent to the front line in Nagorno Artsax.Around the same time,

some of the ethnic Azerbaijani soldiers and officers in the Soviet Army went over to

the APF.

It was in these circumstances that the leadership of the USSR sent a 50,000-strong

force into Baku on the night of 19–20 January in order to assert its rule. In the course

of the operation, troops repeatedly opened fire on civilians.According to official data

from the Azerbaijani parliament, 132 Baku residents were killed and 744 were

wounded. APF fighters at times returned fire using the various weapons they had

previously captured (mostly pistols). The Soviet Army suffered 29 fatalities and

98 wounded.

The reassertion of

Moscow rule

 

this is bs. just another example of either propoganda or a western journalist trying to cover a story he doesn't know didly about.

[hytga]

ah i should've known why there was alot of misinformation in this thing. hmm well

 

 

About the author

Arif Yunusov graduated from the History Department of Baku University, then worked for almost 20 years (1973–1992)

in the History Institute at the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, and completed his doctorate on the ‘History of Military

Operations in Azerbaijan in the Middle Ages’ in 1986. After the outbreak of the Artsax conflict in 1988, he participated in

many negotiation processes as a military expert. In 1992–93 he was head of the Information and Analysis Department of the

Press Service of the Office of the President of Azerbaijan. From 1993 to 1997 he represented Caritas, an international

humanitarian organisation, which has been working to help refugees in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Since 1997 he has been

head of the Department of Conflict and Migration Studies at the Institute of Peace and Democracy. He has published almost

200 articles on issues such as conflict in the Caucasus, national minorities, refugees, migration and regional security, and has

written two books.

Edited May 24, 2004 by hytga