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 YERASKH is a village in RA Ararat region, 80km south of Yerevan, bordering with Nakhichevan.  With the population of 800 (2003).  After the Sumgait genocide, the pogroms of Baku and Kirovabad, the Azeri nationalists committed armed attacks on frontier villages of Armenia.  The opponent, using its favorable position, bombarded the frontier villages of the Ararat region from Sadarak, Nakhichevan. Ararat wine factory, poultry factories, houses had been damaged by the bombarding, causing serious human and material losses. The opponent accumulated armed forces and military equipment within a few days on the border of Yeraskh.  During the  demonstrations in Yerevan's Independence Square, it was announced about the danger threatening Yeraskh.  Groups of volunteers headed to Yeraskh from the square immediately.  Self-defense detachments were formed in Ararat, Artashat, Masis, Nor Hatchn, Echmiadzin, Hoktemberyan.  The home guard battalion was formed from detachments and separate volunteer groups (general commander, V. Sargsyan). The first armed clashes took place on January 17.  The Armenian self-defense forces were positioned in the valley of Araks and  those of opponent in the naturally fortified heights. Unable to achieve tangible success, the commanders of the Armenian self-defense forces convened a military council session on the night of January 17 and determined the effective directions of the attack. In the late evening of January 18, the Armenian forces drove the enemy out and occupied almost all the strategic heights. On January 19, the opponent was forced out to Nakhichevan, and all the firing points were destroyed. Movses Gorgisyan and Y. Saghumyan were killed in Yeraskh battles.

G. Janikyan

Source — Karabakh  Liberation War, 1988-1994. Encyclopedia, Yerevan, 2004.