Azerbaijan marks 34th anniversary of Garadaghly massacre

Today, February 17, marks the 34th anniversary of the massacre of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian armed groups in Garadaghly village of Azerbaijan's Khojavand district.

Caliber.Az reminds its readers that for four years, residents of Garadaghly in Azerbaijan's Khojavand district heroically fought off attacks by Armenian invaders. On February 17, 1992, the village was occupied and burned. The Armenian occupiers committed a brutal massacre against the villagers. This act of genocide, committed 34 years ago against innocent Azerbaijanis, was the result of Armenian nationalists' hatred of Azerbaijanis.

The village of Garadaghly is located 13 kilometres west of the district centre, on the Khojavand-Khankandi road, at the foot of the mountains. In 1988, after Armenian separatists unleashed the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the tragedy struck the village of Garadaghly. The villagers selflessly defended every inch of their native land, and dozens of villagers fell in an unequal battle with heavily armed Armenian thugs.

On January 24, 1990, three residents of the village were brutally murdered by Armenians at the 6th kilometre of the Khojavend-Khankandi road. On January 9, 1991, a UAZ vehicle was shot at by Armenian gangs, killing one person and injuring four others. Two of the injured died from their wounds. 

On March 8,  1991, two people were brutally murdered by Armenians near the village of Garadaghly. 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 Garadaghly from Aghdam was shot at by Armenians on the 5-6 kilometre stretch of the Khojavand-Khankandi road, killing two men and six women. On January 8, 1992, another Azerbaijani was brutally murdered near the village.

On December 19, 1991, the village of Khojavand was occupied and burned, and on February 12, 1992, Shusha’s Malibayli village suffered the same fate. The village of Garadaghly became the next target. The situation in the village worsened, drawing closer to the day of the tragedy.

On February 14, 1992, Armenian armed forces, supported by the 366th Motorised Rifle Regiment stationed in Khankandi, launched an offensive on Garadaghly. For four days, 104 village residents and 14 soldiers selflessly repelled the attack by Armenian armed forces. Fourteen people were killed, including one woman. The village defenders, left without ammunition, were taken prisoner by the Armenian forces.

On February 17, 1992, the village of Garadaghly was occupied and burned by Armenian thugs. As many as 118 villagers were taken hostage, and 33 were executed. The captives were subjected to inhumane torture, and the Armenians committed monstrous murders of Azerbaijani civilians.

Armenian executioners threw the bodies of those who had been killed together with those who were wounded but still alive into a silage pit near Garadaghly and covered them with earth. The others were taken into captivity. In total, 68 prisoners died, and 50 were rescued with great difficulty from the enemy’s hands, but 18 of them later died, unable to withstand the physical and psychological torture they had endured in captivity.

Such sophisticated and barbaric executions were inflicted on the Azerbaijani prisoners as beheading, burying people alive, pulling out teeth, prolonged deprivation of food and water, beating to death, and other similar atrocities.

In the village of Garadaghly, two families lost four members each, 43 families lost fathers and husbands, and approximately 146 children were orphaned. A total of 91 people were killed in the village, or one in ten residents of Garadaghly. As many as 200 residential buildings, a community centre, a school for 320 children, and a 25-bed hospital were destroyed. Approximately 800 village residents became refugees.

The tragedy in Garadaghly is called a second Khojaly. One in ten residents of the village was killed.

With the aim of informing the international community about the realities of the Garadaghly tragedy, the Executive Authority of the Khojavand District initiated the production of the documentary film “Genocide: Garadaghly” in Azerbaijani, Russian, and English, as well as the films “Garadaghly Genocide: Continues…” and “Garadaghly, The Struggle” in Azerbaijani, Russian, English, and French.

In addition, the book, "The Garadaghly Genocide in Eyewitness Stories," was published. Furthermore, memorial complexes have been erected in the villages of Yeni Garadaghly, Yeni Khojavand, and in the Nargiztapa area to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs.

It should be noted that, in accordance with the trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020 following the Second Karabakh War, the village of Garadaghly was located in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping forces. After local anti-terrorist measures carried out in Karabakh on September 19–20, Azerbaijan restored control over the village.