Zhora Faryan was the first fighter who entered the battered St. Ghazanchetsots Church and lit a candle after the liberation of Shushi.

Many believed that the church had been mined. That's why many remained outside and lit candles on the walls.

But Zhora, a unit commander of the Shushi Special Battalion, told me that a photographer beat him to the punch and entered first.

"You know, when a photographer enters the church, a guy not carrying a gun and not a fighter, it's kind of embarrassing not to follow," said Zhora, adding that the photographer was Hakob Poghosyan.

The assault on Shushi was scheduled to start on May 5 but a sudden snowfall delayed the launch. Zhora participated in the town's liberation and entered from the direction of the village of Shosh.

"We started out on the night of May 7. It was pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We entered the chasm and climbed up the cliff to the first position and then started to run. The enemy opened fire but saw that we kept coming, that we weren't afraid," recounts Zhora.

Samvel Zohrabyan, another member of the Special Battalion, was some 150 meters behind Zhora. Samvel says the most intense fighting took place on May 8.

Samvel was a deputy unit commander who says that all the fighters knew what they had to do before the assault was launched. They were handed 900 rounds of ammo apiece. Samvel says that the fighters preferred carrying bullets rather than food and that they ate nothing for the next 40 hours.

"The fighting was fierce. We were on the second line of assault after Zhora's unit. When we reached a point some 200 meters from the walls of the city, fire rained down like hail from all sides. But we kept firing on the ramparts for the next 12 hours straight," says Samvel Zohrabyan.

Zhora says that on May 8 they advanced several times on Shushi but withdrew until they heard about Bekor Ashot's unit entry into the town.

"They told us to change direction and enter towards the direction of the Russian church. It was the morning of May 9. We advanced towards the area of the St. Ghazanchetsots Church," says Zhora Faryan.

Samvel Zohrabyan kept a running daily account of their advance on Shushi in his war diary. He recounted how their advance ran parallel with that of the guys in the Oudjan unit.

"We didn't meet up with them until we entered the town. It was 10am on May 9. When we made our descent the residents were running behind our vehicle out of joy. The blessings heaped on us from the women folk is something I can't describe," Samvel said.

Zhora Faryan remembers how the Armenians asked him to enter the town on foot so that residents could welcome them.

"One old man was crying and embraced me and said 'give me your knife so that I can sacrifice a rooster'. When the assault was over they asked me what I wished for at that exact moment. I answered that I wanted five minutes to go to Abovyan and see how the people were celebrating there," said Zhora, adding that he told no one back in his hometown of Abovyan that he was going to Shushi. His family only heard about his exploits on the TV.

Yesayi Barseghyan fought to liberate Shushi and advanced on the town from the direction of Djanhasan-Kyosalar.

He says that the unit was an amalgam of guys pulled from Gyumri, Abovyan, Nerkin Charbakh, Kosh and Oudjan units.

Barseghyan says that for ten days before the final push on Shushi, Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (Commandos) had ordered 150-200 men to ascend during daylight and secretly fall back at night to create the impression in the mind of the enemy that Armenian forces were gathering in large numbers.

Yesayi was severely injured in the assault and was miraculously pulled to safety by his comrades.

Zohrab Khachatryan also participated in the assault on Shushi and recounts the following incident.

"It was 2:20 in the morning. We reached our position faster than expected. In front of us was an Azeri tank. We had two anti-tank mines. I grabbed them and placed them in the tank treads. I then thought it best that we capture the tank so I ran back and removed the mines."

Shushi liberators aren't happy with current state of the town

Zhora Faryan says that about 700 fighters took part in the liberation of Shushi. He's displeased that a greater number than this have been awarded medals and other decorations.

"The lies have chewed up the truth. Today, many of those medal recipients can't even point to Shushi on a map. Those straight-up boys who actually fought to liberate the town have been overlooked. It isn't right."

Samvel Zohrabyan, who now works as the principal of the Aramous high school, says he's pleased that the St. Ghazanchetsots Church has been renovated in harmony with its surroundings but notes that the ruins of the war haven't been removed.

"Some twenty meters from the church you can still see the refuse from the 1990s. Shushi can be transformed into the second Armenian spiritual center. I believe that our benefactors and businessmen should continue the work we started and beautify the town," Samvel argues.

Zhora Faryan, who now works as a mechanic, added that he was overjoyed when Shushi was liberated but is disappointed with its current state.

"They simply wish to show that the town isn't ours. They are showing this to the Turks as well. They don't fix it up and don't repopulate it. Other than repairing the St. Ghazanchetsots Church, what else has been done there ever since 1994? Why are they improving Stepanakert to the point where it resembles Northern Avenue in Yerevan, but they continue to neglect Shushi?"

"I would pack up my family and move to Shushi with great pleasure. And I'd take 15-20 families with me. But there's no place to go. Nature has provided everything to live there, water and the land. So why doesn't the government build there? Last week I visited Kelbajar. When I saw what beautiful white houses they have built in those ruined villages, when I saw the children and the school, I said to myself, thank God that we didn't spill Armenian blood in vain. There are people there, living on the land. The same should be done everywhere."

Yesayi Barseghyan, who was gravely wounded in the liberation of Shushi and still hasn't been granted disability status or a war pension, believes that Shushi will slowly be rebuilt.

"Hey, it's not like the town can be fixed overnight," he noted.

Photos: Hakob Poghosyan