The topic of the destruction of Shushi on March 23-26, 1920,
and the genocide of its Armenian population
in domestic and foreign historiography
As a component of the larger military operation, the armed rising which was organized by the Central body of the Karabagh self-defense in Shushi on March 23, 1920, was an attempt of a preemptive strike. Even a limited right to self-determination, about which the people of Artsakh once again reminded at the VIII Congress convened in the village of Shosh from February 28 to March 5, was grossly violated by the Turkisn and Azeri organizers of the genocide of Armenian population in Shushi, because that basic right was not provided with sufficient force.
Instead of evacuation of the people of Shushi to the villages so that they could wait there for the Expeditionary detachment of the Republic of Armenia, coming to the rescue from Zangezur, or of the of the Red Army preparing for the advance onto Baku, the ratio of which was comparable to the Musavat forces, imitating a war meant leaving the defenseless city under the attack of a well-prepared enemy, who mere-ly waited for an opportunity. The term “insurrection,” long-established in Armenian historiography, raises objections, taking into account the small number of Armenian fighters in Askeran or Khankend and the unexpectedness of the armed rising for the Armenian population of Shushi.
Keywords: Shushi on March 23-26, 1920, Mountainous Karabakh, Artsakh, 8th congress of the Karabakh Armenians, self-defense, insurrection, historiography. //-442