My grandma, Mahbuba khanim, was born and raised in #Shusha so I am ¼ Shusha-li. She left the town only to go to a university in Baku, where she met my grandpa and settled here. But Shusha was always in her heart. She talked about the mountains, the air, the sky and many springs.

I remember visiting my grandma’s side of the family in #Shusha. This photo is from Shusha in 1987, right before the conflict started. I am the little one. I remember Shusha as sunny, green and white. I also remember a Samovar tea we had on “Cıdır Düzü” with the local fresh herbs

The girl in the photo, my distant cousin, will have to leave her two story #Shusha house with a beautiful garden and, escaping the Armenian army, flee for her life together with the whole family. They will end up settling in a half destroyed dormitory in Baku.

Much later I once asked her, “would you return to your home if it ever gets liberated?”, she said: “I would run there, even if I was barefoot".

My grandma never really processed the loss of #Shusha. She couldn’t understand how the #Armenian-s from Khankendi, her neighbors, could do this to her people, and what was the reason for the whole occupation and the war.

She always said: If #Azerbaijan-i men warm up (qızışsa) nothing will stop them, and they will liberate Shusha. My grandma is long gone, but it seems like it took Azerbaijani men three decades to “warm up”. Better late than never.

What is #Shusha for an #Azerbaijan-i? Shusha is the sun. Shusha is the earth. Shusha is the motherland of our poets, singers, artists, carpets, basically our culture. Shusha is Azerbaijan’s favorite daughter that has been held hostage for three decades.

There is no Azerbaijan without Shusha. #Shusha #Azerbaijan

Now let's make sure that this will be the last war over Shusha. #Shusha needs and deserves long lasting peace.