irregular groups. The Karabakh Armenians declared that Sultanov had “organized large gangs of Tatars, Kurds, prepare(d) grandiose massacre of Armenians (…) On roads kill travellers, rape women, steal the cattle. Proclaimed the economic blockade of Karabakh. Sultanov had demanded the entry of garrisons into the heart of Armenian Karabakh: Varanda, Dzraberd, and broken the agreement of VII Congress". 1920–1921 On February 19, 1920, Sultanov demanded that the National Council of the Karabakhi Armenians "urgently ... solve the question of the final incorporation of Karabakh into Azerbaijan". The Eighth Congress of Karabakhi Armenians from February 23 to March 4, 1920 rejected Sultanov's demand. The Congress accused Sultanov of numerous infringements of the peace agreement, entry of armies into Karabakh without the permission of the National Council and organizing murders of Armenians, in particular the massacre on February 22 in Khankendy, Askeran and on the Shusha-Evlakh road. However, in all these events, the aspirations and wishes of the Azerbaijani population of Karabakh were continuously violated by Armenian inhabitants "who had no right to represent in its Congress the will of the entire population of the region" In accordance with the decision of the Congress the diplomatic and military representatives of the Allies, or Entente states, three Transcaucasian republics and the provisional governor-general were informed that "the repetition of these events will compel the Armenians of Nagorno- Karabakh to turn to the appropriate means for defense." Nagorno-Karabakh war 1920 In March–April 1920 there was a short war between Azerbaijan and Armenia for Nagorno-Karabakh. It began on March 22 (Nowruz), when Armenian forces broke the armistice and unexpectedly attacked Atskeran and Khankendi. The Armenians assumed that the Azerbaijanians would be celebrating Nowruz and therefore would not be prepared to defend themselves, but their attack on the Azerbaijan garrison in Shusha failed because of poor coordination. In response Azerbaijanis burned down the Armenian part of Shusha and massacred its population. "The most beautiful Armenian city has been destroyed, crushed to its foundations; we have seen corpses of women and children in wells", recollected Soviet communist leader Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze. The massacre and expulsion of Shushi's majority Armenian population was the largest escalation of the conflict to date. Armenian sources give different numbers for Armenian casualties, from 500 persons in R. Hovannisian to 35,000; most say 20–30 thousand. Estimates for the number of the burned homes ranged from R. Hovannisian's two thousand to the more usual figure