32 years pass since Garadaghli tragedy

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the massacre committed by Armenian gangs against Azerbaijani civilians in Garadaghli village, Khojavand district, Azerbaijan.

Caliber.Az recalls that the residents of Garadaghli village of Azerbaijan’s Khojavand district heroically fought off the attacks of Armenian invaders for four years. On February 17, 1992, the village was occupied and burned down. The Armenian occupants committed brutal massacres against the civilians in the village. This act of genocide committed 32 years ago on peaceful, innocent Azerbaijanis was the result of hatred of Armenian nationalists towards Azerbaijanis.

Garadaghli village is located 13 km west of the Khojavand district, on the outskirts of Khojavand-Khankandi highway. In 1988, after Armenian separatists unleashed the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the tragedy in the village of Garadaghli began. The villagers selflessly defended every inch of their native land, dozens of villagers fell in an unequal battle with Armenian thugs armed to the teeth.

On January 24, 1990, three villagers were brutally killed by Armenians at the 6th kilometer of the Khojavand-Khankandi road. On January 9, 1991, a UAZ car was shot by Armenian bandits, one person was killed and four were wounded. Two of the victims died of their wounds. On March 8, 1991 Armenians killed two people near Garadaghli village in a heinous way. On June 28, 1991, 6 people - three men and three women - were killed on a farm near the village. On September 8, 1991, a bus going to Garadaghli from Aghdam was shot by Armenians at the 5th-6th kilometer of the Khojavand-Khankandi road, two men and 6 women were killed. On January 8, 1992, another Azerbaijani was brutally killed near the village.

The Khojavand village was occupied and burned down on December 19, 1991, and the Malibayli village of Shusha was occupied and burned down on February 12, 1992. The next target was Garadaghli. The situation in the village was getting worse and the day of the tragedy was approaching.

On February 14, 1992, the Armenian armed formations, with the support of the 366th motor-infantry regiment deployed in Khankandi, launched an attack on Garadaghli village. 104 villagers and 14 soldiers selflessly repelled the Armenian armed forces' attacks for four days. Fourteen people were killed, including one woman. On February 17, 1992, the village of Garadaghli was occupied and burned down by Armenian thugs. 118 villagers were taken hostage, 33 people were shot. The captives were subjected to inhuman torture, Armenians committed monstrously cruel murders of peaceful Azerbaijanis.

The Armenian executioners threw the bodies of those killed, along with those who were wounded but still alive, into a silage pit near Garadaghli and covered them with earth. The rest were taken captive. A total of 68 prisoners died, and 50 managed to be rescued from the hands of the enemy with great difficulty, but 18 of them died later, unable to withstand the consequences of physical and moral torture suffered in captivity. Such sophisticated, barbaric tortures were used against Azerbaijani captives as beheading, burying alive, as well as pulling out teeth, prolonged detention without food and drink, beating to death and similar atrocities.

In Garadaghli village, two families lost four people each, while 43 families lost their fathers and husbands, and about 146 children were left orphans. A total of 91 people were killed in the village, i.e. every tenth resident of Garadaghli. 200 residential houses, a culture house, a 320-seat school and a 25-bed hospital were destroyed in the village. About 800 villagers became refugees.

The tragedy in Garadaghli is called the second Khojaly. Every tenth resident of the village was killed.

In order to deliver the realities of the Garadaghli tragedy to the world community, a documentary "Genocide: Garadaghli" was made in Azerbaijani, Russian and English languages on the initiative of the Khojavand district executive authority, as well as films "Garadaghli Genocide: Continues..." and "Garadaghli, struggle" in Azerbaijani, Russian, English and French languages, and a book "Garadaghli Genocide in eyewitness accounts" was published. In addition, memorial complexes were erected in Yeni Garadaghli, Yeni Khojavand and Nargiztapa villages to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs.

Under the trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020 on the results of the Second Karabakh War, Garadaghli village was in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces. After local anti-terrorist measures carried out in Karabakh on September 19-20, Azerbaijan regained control over the village.