One of bloody crimes committed by Armenians against the people of Azerbaijan in Karabakh is Garadaghli tragedy. Garadaghli tragedy committed on February 17, 1992 actually was not the incident of a day or a night, it was the continuation of ethnic cleansing and genocide policy consistently carried out by Armenian nationalists against Azerbaijanis for about two hundred years.

One of villages of Khojavend district mostly exposed to tragedies and suffered the most in Karabakh War is Garadaghli. The village Garadaghli is situated 13km to the west of Khojavend district center, on the side of Khojavend-Khankendi road, in the foothills. Since Armenians separatists’ revolt in 1988 in Nagorno Karabakh, tragic days started in Garadaghli, Khojavend. Villagers got into the fight for every inch and every stone of their homeland where they were born and grew up, dozens of villagers were martyred in the unequal battle against Armenians.

On November 24, 1990, 3 villagers were brutally murdered by Armenian vandals in the 6th km of Khojavend-Khankendi road. UAZ coming to the village was fired by Armenians, a person was killed, and 4 people were injured on January 9, 1991. 2 of them died of wounds afterwards. Armenians brutally killed 2 people near the village on March 8, 1991. On June 28 of the same year, 6 villagers – 3 men and 3 women were burned alive in the farm 3km away from the village. A passenger-carrying bus coming from Aghdam to Garadaghli was fired by Armenian bandits in the 5-6th km of Khojavend-Khankendi road on September 8, 1991. 2 boys and 6 women died among 40 passengers in the bus. On January 8, 1992, one more Azerbaijani was brutally murdered near the village; about 100 sheep were taken as spoils by Armenians.
On February 14, 1992, Armenian vandals attacked the helpless village Garadaghli disconnected from all sides by using equipment and personnel of foreign mercenaries, in particular the 366th regiment of the Soviet Army located in Khankendi. 104 villagers and 14 soldiers in the village fought against the enemy for 4 days to the last bullet. 14 people, including one woman were killed in the battles. Our compatriots running out of ammunition were captured and taken hostage, another torture of them just started.

23 villagers were shot by Armenian killers in Baylik Baghi place of the village; most of them were buried alive and wounded in a silo trench. Some of villagers were dropped from cars and fired in Armenian villages located on Garadaghli-Khankendi road. Two people were killed in Zaki spring, 2 were murdered in the village Jamiyyat. Armenians tortured 8 hostage villagers and killed them brutally. Four people were martyred in different times. Nobody knows what happens to five people up to the present.

So, Garadaghli heroically fighting against Armenian occupiers for 4 years was occupied and burned on February 17, 1992 and genocide was committed against innocent civilians. During the occupation, 118 people were captured, 33 were shot. Armenian killers poured died and injured people into a farm well and buried them. Totally 68 people among captives and hostages were killed, 50 were hardly released. 10 of hostages were women, 2 were school children. 18 released people, including 5 women died of non-healing wounds. Brutality and vandalism acts against captives, beheading, burying alive, tooth extraction, keeping people in hunger and thirst, beating them to death were a crime against humanity. As a result of genocide committed by Armenians at a state level, 4 members of each of two families were murdered, 43 families lost the family heads, and 146 children were orphaned. 10 of people murdered in attacks on Garadaghli by Armenian armed forces were women, 8 were school children. 91 people from Garadaghli, i.e. one in every 10 villagers were killed. As a result of the occupation, 200 houses, 1 cultural house, a 320-seat secondary school building, 25-bed hospital building and other facilities, historical, religious, cultural monuments belong to Azerbaijanis and a cemetery were destroyed. About 800 people of the village became an IDP.

Recommended literature:

1. Paşayeva, Qənirə Ələsgər qızı. Qaradağlı soyqırımı : şahidlərin dili ilə / Q. Ə. Paşayeva, Ş. A. Aslanov ; red. Ə. Qoşalı. - Bakı : Elm və təhsil, 2013. - 176 s.
2. Zeynaloğlu, Camal. Qarabağ dərdi - erməni vandalizmi : tarixi həqiqətlər, faktlar... / C. Zeynaloğlu ; red., ön sözün müəl. H. Kərimova. - Bakı : UniPrint, 2014. - 456 s.
3. Zülfüqarlı, Məhərrəm Paşa oğlu. Qaradağlı faciəsi : Dağlıq Qarabağda erməni terroru: 17 fevral 1992-ci il / M. P. Zülfüqarlı. - Bakı : Qanun, 2010. - 36 s.
4. Quliyev, Elpərəst Yusif oğlu. Qaradağlı - Qanli Dərə / E. Y. Quliyev. - Bakı : Avropa nəşriyyatı, 2010. - 104 s.