Azerbaijan marks 31st anniversary of tragedy over Garakand village

Thirty one years have passed since the destruction of the helicopter with the representatives of the Azerbaijani political elite on board by the Armenian armed forces.

Some 22 people, including prominent state figures of the country, members of the government, MPs and journalists, were killed in the sky over the Garakend village in the Azerbaijani Khojavend district as a result of the destruction of the Mi-8 helicopter on November 20, 1991, APA reports.

Among the dead are Secretary of State of Azerbaijan Tofig Ismayilov, Attorney General Ismet Gaibov, State Adviser, former Interior Minister Mahammad Asadov, MPs Vagif Jafarov, Vali Mammadov, Deputy Prime Minister Zulfi Hajiyev, head of the department of the Presidential Administration, journalist Osman Mirzayev, Kazakh Deputy Interior Minister Sanlal Serikov, TV journalist of the Azerbaijan State Television Ali Mustafayev.

The official information was initially disseminated that the helicopter crashed into a rock in the fog. However, a few days later it was confirmed that the helicopter had been shot down by the Armenians.

The full list of those killed in the Mi-8 military helicopter crash as a result of the terrorist attack is as follows:

Azerbaijan's Secretary of State Tofig Ismayilov

Prosecutor-General Ismat Gayibov

State Adviser, former Interior Minister Mahammad Asadov

Deputy Prime Minister Zulfi Hajiyev

MP Vagif Jafarov

MP Vali Mammadov

Head of the department of the Presidential Administration, journalist Osman Mirzayev

Deputy Minister Gurban Namazaliyev

Prosecutor of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region Igor Plavskiy

Head of the Interior Department of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region Vladimir Kovalev

Head of the National Security Department on Nagorno-Karabakh Sergey Ivanov

Commandant of the emergency area Nikolai Zhinkin

Kazakh Deputy Interior Minister Sanlal Serikov

Major general of militia Mikhail Lukashov

Lt-Col Oleg Kocherev

Assistant Secretary of State Rafig Mammadov

TV journalist of the Azerbaijan State Television Ali Mustafayev

Illuminator on AzTV Arif Huseynzade

Videographer Fakhraddin Shahbazov

Helicopter crew commander Vyacheslav Kotov

Helicopter crew member Gennady Domov

Helicopter crew member Dmitriy Yarovenko