MOSCOW – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev marked the Nowruz holiday Saturday by lighting a ceremonial fire outside Shusha, a culturally revered city that Azerbaijan took from Armenian forces in last autumn’s war.
Shusha, a center of Azeri culture for centuries, came under Armenian control in 1992 in fighting over the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Its retaking by Azerbaijan’s forces in November was important both symbolically and strategically because it sits high above the region’s nearby capital, Stepanakert. “Today we are celebrating Nowruz in our ancient city Shusha, the cultural capital of Azerbaijan.