Azerbaijan marks 31st anniversary of Garadaghli massacre

Azerbaijan marks the 31st anniversary of the Garadaghli massacre committed by Armenian terrorists against the Azerbaijanis in 1992.

For four years, the Garadaghli village of the Khojavand region fought valiantly against Armenian aggressors, Caliber.Az reports.

On February 17, 1992, the village was occupied and burned, and the massacre was committed against the civilian population. This act of genocide committed 31 years ago against peaceful, innocent people was the result of the hatred of Armenian nationalists against Azerbaijanis.

The village of Garadaghli is located at the foot of the mountains, 13 km west of the district centre, on the Khojavand-Khankendi road. The Karabakh conflict unleashed by the Armenian separatists in 1988 was also the beginning of the tragedy in Garadaghli. The villagers selflessly defended every inch of their native land, and dozens of them fell in an unequal battle with the Armenian thugs armed to the teeth.

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

On December 19, 1991, the village of Khojavand was occupied and burnt, on February 12, 1992, the same fate fell upon the Malibeyli village of Shusha. Another target was Garadaghli. The situation in the village was aggravating, bringing closer the day of the tragedy.

On February 14, 1992, Armenian armed groups supported by the 366th motorized rifle regiment deployed in Khankendi launched an attack on Garadaghli. During four days 104 habitants of the village and 14 soldiers selflessly repulsed the attack of Armenian forces. Fourteen people were killed, including one woman. The defenders of the village left without ammunition were taken prisoner by the Armenians.

On February 17, 1992, the village was occupied and burned down by Armenian thugs. Some 118 villagers were taken hostage and 33 were shot. The captives were subjected to inhuman torture, the Armenians committed atrociously cruel killings of peaceful Azerbaijanis.

The Armenian executioners threw the bodies of the killed mixed with the wounded into a silo and covered them with earth. The rest remained in captivity. In total 68 prisoners of war were killed, and 50 people were rescued with difficulty, but 18 of them died later, having not sustained the consequences of the physical and moral torments suffered in captivity. Such severe and barbaric punishments as beheading, burying alive, pulling of teeth, long detention without food and drink, beating to death, and other such atrocities were used against Azerbaijani captives.

Two families lost four people each in Garadaghli, 43 families lost their fathers and husbands, and about 146 children were left orphans. A total of 91 people, i.e. one in ten, were killed in the village. Two hundred houses, a house of culture, a school for 320 children, and a hospital with 25 beds were destroyed. Some 800 villagers became refugees.

The tragedy in Garadaghli is called the second Khojaly. In order to deliver the realities of this massacre to the world community, on the initiative of the Khojavand Executive Authority a documentary film entitled "The Genocide: Garadaghli" was shot in Azerbaijani, in Russian and English languages, and also the films "The Garadaghli Genocide: Continued..." and "Garadaghli, Struggle" in the Azerbaijani, Russian, English and French languages and a book entitled "The Garadaghli Genocide in Witness Stories" was published. In addition, memorial complexes have been erected in the villages of Yeni Garadaghli, Yeni Hojavand, and Nargiztepe to commemorate the martyrs.