"BEFORE CONQUERING SHUSHI ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES WERE NOT READY FOR
SUCH OPERATION," ARKADI TER-TADEVOSIAN SAYS
YEREVAN, MAY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Only specialists can make deep and
objective analyses about the Artsakh war and the liberation of Shushi,
in particular. This statement was made by Major-General Arkadi
Ter-Tadevosian, a participant of the Artsakh war, at the press
conference, which was held on May 6. He reminded that the "Artsakh War"
book by writer, publicist Zori Balayan has recently been published and
"it is mentioned on one of its pages that Shushi was liberated by the
very Arkadi Ter-Tadevosian and on another one that it was liberated by
another."
"Then we were just not ready to take Shushi as we had, all in all, 3500
people, there was not the necessary amount of arms-ammunition and by
the military laws, we had no right to make an operation," the General
said. That was why, according to him, there was no order from Yerevan
on liberating Shushi. The situation, however, in the words of Arkadi
Ter-Tadevosian, was that the Azerbaijani side "massacred everybody" and
70 commanders asked themselves what was the difference if they were
killed then or after. "Then I asked Serge Sargsian whether we were
going to conquer Shushi and he gave a positive answer," the General
told.
Arkdi Ter-Tadevosian remembered the names of his war fellows,
mentioning that the selfless carriage of volunteers, in particular,
should be appreciated. In his observation Ashot Ghulian, Yuri
Hovhannisian, Valeri Babayan, Jirayr Sefilian, Samvel Babayan, Valeri
Chechian and Nver Chakhoyan played a great role in the liberation of
Shushi.