Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov: Artillery Used Around Shushi, No Strikes on City or Historic Sites

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov spoke about the occupation of Shushi in an interview with Real TV. According to him, President Ilham Aliyev ordered that the planning and implementation of actions take into consideration that Shushi is "a center of Azerbaijani culture"; therefore, the Azerbaijani army could not use artillery there.

“This complicated the conduct of operations. Additionally, the weather was overcast. For this reason, there was no opportunity to use drones during the Shushi operation, which also created difficulties for conducting reconnaissance,” Hasanov stated, adding that artillery was used around the city of Shushi, but “no artillery strikes were inflicted on the city and historical sites.”

He noted that “engineering troops built a road in a short time,” which was “a shock for the Armenians.” “They were expecting our attack on Shushi from a different direction and focused their forces elsewhere,” Hasanov said.

It is noteworthy that during the same interview, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov admitted that the Turkish Armed Forces play a significant role in the combat readiness of Azerbaijani soldiers and the army in general. “From a civilian perspective, war is a unique test for the Armed Forces. We passed that test, but the Turkish Armed Forces prepared us for it. Speaking about last year’s military cooperation, the president said that only in 2019, 13 large-scale joint exercises were conducted. These exercises were held so that Turkish military officers could help our officers improve their combat readiness to a higher level,” Hasanov stated.