25 years pass since Garadaghli massacre
By Rashid Shirinov
25 years have passed since the occupation of the Garadaghli village of Azerbaijan’s Khojavend region by the Armenian armed forces.
The Armenian armed formations, with the support of the 366th motor-infantry regiment of the former USSR, attacked Garadaghli village on 15 February 1992. After two days of heavy fighting, breaking through the defense, Armenians managed to occupy the village on February 17.
After the capture, the Armenian gangs looted and destroyed the village. Armenian militaries brutally murdered, tortured and took hostages innocent civilians, including women, children and the elderly. They killed nearly 80 of 117 captivated villagers, six went missing, while nine people, according to witnesses, were taken captive.
Eyewitnesses said that 43 of the captured Azerbaijanis were shot at two kilometers away from Khankendi, and some of them were beheaded.
Those villagers, who managed to survive the Garadaghli massacre, now live a refugee life in different parts of Azerbaijan.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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