On May 18, 1992, Armenian armed formations occupied the Lachin district of Azerbaijan, which does not belong to the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh, and burned the city. The occupation of the area was of a strategic nature for the Armenians since the shortest road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, the Lachin Corridor, runs from here. Military and household supplies have been transported through the corridor for 28 years.
[Thomas de Waal. The Black Garden. Armenia and Azerbaijan between peace and war. Moscow – 2005. p. 249]
On May 9, 1992, after the occupation of Shusha (May 8, 1992), Armenian armed formations moved east of Shusha and launched an offensive on the Lachin district. By this time, most of the women, children and the elderly had left the district center. But a considerable part of the residents took refuge in the district House of Culture, from the bombing of Armenian armed formations from the Goris district of Armenia. On that day, 7 people were killed and 23 people were wounded as a result of an air strike.
[“Bakinskiy rabochiy” newspaper. 9.05.1992., № 92 (22371), p. 1]
[“Bakinskiy rabochiy” newspaper. 12.05.1992., № 93 (22372), p. 1]
[“Bakinskiy rabochiy” newspaper. 15.05.1992., № 96 (22375), p. 2]
On May 13, 1992, Armenian armed formations concentrated near the village of Zarysly, which is located between Shusha and Lachin. On the same day, the aggressors laid down an ultimatum. The Armenian side demanded that the residents of Lachin leave the region within a week, otherwise, the Armenian armed formations threatened to launch an offensive on Lachin from the Goris district of Armenia as well. On the same day, Armenian armed formations began shelling the territory of the district with “Grad” and “Crystal” rockets, and the city of Lachin was almost completely destroyed.
[“Izvestia” newspaper. 13.05.1992., № 111 (23685), p. 1]
[“Literaturnaya Gazeta” newspaper. 13.05.1992., № 20 (5397), p. 2]
[“Bakinskiy rabochiy” newspaper. 12.05.1992., № 93 (22372), p. 1]
On May 18, 1992, fighting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides continued in the area of the city of Lachin. In the battles participated not only Azerbaijanis, but also the local Kurdish population of the district. But despite this, Armenian armed formations occupied the Lachin district. The entire Azerbaijani and Kurdish population was expelled from the region, the number of which according to various sources was 47 000 – 59 500 thousand of people.
[“Izvestia” newspaper. 18.05.1992., № 115 (23689), p. 1]
[S.N. Salamov. Karabakh: the war of ideas. Nationalism-Terrorism- Genocide. Tbilisi – 2016. p. 37]
On May 25, 1992, the UN observers met with the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, the Ministers of Health and Agriculture, the chairmen of the public organizations, as well as with refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, Shusha and Lachin.
[“Izvestia” newspaper. 25.05.1992., 121 (23695), p. 2]
On December 1, 2020, as a result of Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Karabakh War (09.27.2020-11.10.2020), under the terms of the trilateral agreement between Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia, the Lachin district was liberated from occupation and transferred to Azerbaijan. Along the Lachin corridor a Russian peacekeeping contingent has been deployed.
