Capture of Garadaghly

The Capture of Garadaghly (Azerbaijani: Qaradağlının işğalı) or Garadaghly massacre (Azerbaijani: Qaradağlı qətliamı) occurred when Armenian troops captured Garadaghly, an Azerbaijani village in Khojavend district of Nagorno-Karabakh, on 17 February 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Subsequently, 20 to 90 Azerbaijani civilians were killed and many taken prisoner.[1]

Capture of Garadaghly
Date17 February 1992
Location
Garadaghly, Nagorno-Karabakh
Result Armenian victory
Belligerents
 Artsakh
 Armenia		  Azerbaijan
Casualties and losses
20-90 Azerbaijani civilians massacred[1]

Preceding events

In the spring and summer of 1991, the violence during the First Nagorno-Karabakh war escalated into a partisan-style conflict between villages as raids were made and hostages were taken. In one of these events, six Azerbaijani villagers were killed in one attack by Armenian fighters in Garadaghly.[2]

Assault and massacre

The assault began at 5am on 17 February 1992. The battle continued for 11 hours and resulted in the capture of Garadaghly by Armenian troops.[3] Arabo and Aramo units and units of Monte Melkonian took part in the operation against the orders of Melkonian, who commanded "that no captives were to be harmed".[4][5] According to Azerbaijan, 117 Azerbaijani civilians were taken prisoner and around 56 to 90 civilians were killed.[6][7] Survivors fled to Agdam through the mountains.[8] The ITAR-TASS news agency reported, quoting the Azerbaijani Popular Front's information center, that "more than 20 people were killed and 15 wounded" when Armenian militants captured the village and forced the residents to flee to a nearby forest.[1]

Markar Melkonian, brother of Monte Melkonian, who participated in the capture of the village, describes in his book My Brother's Road, that the fighters from Arabo and Aramo units gathered thirty-eight Azerbaijani captives, including several women and other non-combatants, in a ditch on the outskirts of the village. One of the captives in the ditch tossed a grenade, injuring one of the captors. The Arabo and Aramo fighters who had already wished to "avenge" the death of another comrade the day before", "began stabbing and shooting their captives", until they all were dead. One of the Armenian fighters doused several wounded Azerbaijani soldiers with gasoline and burned them alive. In the words of Melkonian, the ditch became a "butcher's scrap heap". According to Melkonian, "a total of fifty-three Azeris were killed in and around Karadaghlu within two days, compared to three killed on the Armenian side, including a sixty-year-old villager" who was hit by a stray bullet.[9]

Names of the prisoners

The names of the prisoners according to the Azerbaijani news agency Musavat:

  • Veten Aliyev
  • Zakir Aliyev
  • Nasir Amrahov
  • Hafiz Akhundov
  • Fuzuli Veliyev
  • Abulfat Huseynov
  • Mikayil Dadashov
  • Firdovsi Kerimov
  • Malik Mustafayev[7]

Aftermath

According to Azerbaijani sources, after the capture, the defence minister Tajeddin Mehdiyev was fired. Many letters had been sent by Azerbaijan to the United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Red Cross condemning the killing of Azerbaijani civilians.[7]

See also

References
  1. "20 killed in attack on Azerbaijani village". Deseret News. February 17, 1992. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  2. de Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. NYU Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8147-1945-9.
  3. Газ. "Бакинский рабочий", Т. Чалалзе. Сострадание. 1995.
  4. Melkonian, Markar (2005). My brother's road: an American's fateful journey to Armenia. I.B. Tauris. pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-1-85043-635-5.
  5. Rizvan Guseynov (17 August 2010). "Ибад Гусейнов: "Монте Мелконян на коленях просил пощадить его жизнь"". 1news.az. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020.
  6. "Letter dated 20 May 2005 from the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  7. "QARADAĞLI QƏTLİAMINDAN 18 İL KEÇİR". Yeni Musavat. 17 February 2010. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010.
  8. "NATO academic forum: Violence in NK area" (PDF). NATO. 14 December 2010. p. 10.
  9. Melkonian, Markar (2005). My brother's road: an American's fateful journey to Armenia. I.B. Tauris. pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-1-85043-635-5.

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