Azerbaijan marks 34 years since Garakand helicopter tragedy

Today, November 20, marks 34 years since the Armenian armed formations shot down a Mi-8 helicopter carrying Azerbaijani officials over the village of Garakand in the Khojavand district.

As Caliber.Az recalls, the tragedy, which occurred on November 20, 1991, claimed the lives of 22 people — among them prominent state officials, journalists, and members of the joint Russian–Kazakh peacekeeping mission.

Those on board the downed helicopter were:

• Tofig Kazim oglu Ismayilov – State Secretary

• Ismat Ismayil oglu Gayibov – Prosecutor General

• Mahammad Nabi oglu Asadov – Minister of Internal Affairs

• Zulfi Saleh oglu Hajiyev – Deputy Prime Minister

• Vagif Jafar oglu Jafarov – Member of Parliament

• Vali Huseyn oglu Mammadov – Member of Parliament

• Osman Mirzahuseyn oglu Mirzayev – Head of Department at the Presidential Administration

• Gurban Huseyn oglu Namazaliyev – Deputy Minister

• Igor Aleksandrovich Plavitsky – Prosecutor of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic

• Vladimir Vladimirovich Kovalev – Head of the Internal Affairs Department of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic

• Sergey Semyonovich Ivanov – Head of the National Security Department for Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Republic

• Nikolay Vladimirovich Zhinkin – Commandant of the State of Emergency Zone

• Sanlal Dasumovich Serikov – Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan

• Mikhail Dmitrievich Lukashov – Major General of Police

• Oleg Nikolayevich Kocherov – Police Colonel

• Rafiq Mammad oglu Mammadov – Assistant to the State Secretary

• Ali Mustafayev – TV journalist

• Arif Ismayil oglu Huseynzada – Lighting technician at AzTV

• Fakhraddin Ibrahim oglu Shahbazov – Cameraman

• Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Kotov – Helicopter commander

• Gennady Vladimirovich Domov – Helicopter crew member

• Dmitry Borisovich Yarovenko – Helicopter crew member.

Although early reports suggested the helicopter had crashed into a mountainside due to fog, it was confirmed within days that it had been shot down. By carrying out this attack, Armenian separatists once again demonstrated their adherence to a terrorist ideology.

The village of Garakand was liberated from occupation in 2023.

By Khagan Isayev