Azernews.Az

Today marks the birthday of National Hero of Azerbaijan Natiq Gasimov.

Azernews reports that although Natiq Gasimov went missing during the First Garabagh War, he refused to lower the Azerbaijani flag even after enduring five days without food or water.

Born in 1971 in the village of Kichik Garamurad in Azerbaijan’s Gadabay district, Gasimov volunteered in 1991 to defend the country following attacks by Armenian armed formations on Azerbaijan’s sovereign territories. He joined the “Garadagh Falcons” battalion formed in the Aghdam district and took part in combat operations.

On March 12, 1992, during fighting in the direction of the village of Pirlar (Khramort) in the Khojaly district, Gasimov was captured by Armenian forces.

During the battle for an Albanian church located on elevated ground near Pirlar village, six of his fellow fighters were killed. Gasimov continued to fight alone, holding his position for five days without food or water.

After running out of ammunition, he was captured on the sixth day, March 12, 1992, in the presence of Russian and Italian journalists Konstantin Smirnov and Enrico Sarzini. His capture was later documented in the Russian magazine Ogonyok in its 1992 issues No. 14 and 15, in an article titled “Fear.”

It should be noted that on June 25, 2024, by decree of President of Azerbaijan and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, Natiq Gasimov was posthumously awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan.