32 years pass since Garakand helicopter tragedy

Thirty-two years have passed since the Armenian terrorist shot down an MI-8 helicopter near Garakand village of the Khojavand district on November 20, 1991.
Report informs that 22 people were killed as a result.

State Secretary Tofig Ismayilov, Deputy Prime Minister Zulfu Hajiyev, Minister of Internal Affairs Mahammad Asadov, Prosecutor General Ismat Gayibov, parliamentarians Vagif Jafarov and Vali Mammadov, Department Chief at the Presidential Administration Osman Mirzeyev, Deputy Minister Gurban Namazaliyev, Assistant to State Secretary Rafig Mammadov, employees of Azerbaijan State TV and Radio Ali Mustafayev, Arif Huseynzade and Fakhraddin Shakhbazov, police Major-General Mikhail Dmitrievich Lukashov, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Nikolayevich Kocherev, Prosecutor of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) Igor Alexandrovich Plaviski, Head of Internal Affairs Office of the former NKAO Vladimir Vladimirovich Kovalyov, Chief of National Security Department on Nagorno Karabakh Sergey Semyonovich Ivanov, Commandant for Emergency Situations of the former NKAO Nikolay Vladimirovich Jinkin, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan Sanlal Dasumovich Serikov, Commander of helicopter crew Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Kotov, and members of the helicopter crew Gennadiy Vladimirovich Domov and Dmitry Borisovich Yarovenko were killed in the helicopter crash in the Garakand village, Khojavand.

Initially, officials suggested that the helicopter might have crashed into a rock in the fog, but a few days later, they confirmed that it had been shot down. By committing this terrorist attack, the Armenian separatists once again proved their terrorist nature.

On September 19 of this year, local anti-terrorist measures were launched in the region in order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Declaration, prevent large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, disarm and withdraw the Armenian armed forces units from our territories, neutralize their military infrastructure, ensure the safety of civilians returning to the liberated territories and the civil workers and military personnel involved in the reconstruction work, and restore the constitutional structure of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

During the measures that lasted for a little more than 23 hours, the positions of the Armenian armed forces on the front line and in-depth and long-term firing points, as well as combat vehicles and military objects were destroyed by the use of high-precision weapons. The enemy raised a white flag. With this, the constitutional structure was restored in all territories of Azerbaijan.

On October 15, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Khankandi city, Khojavand, Shusha, Khojaly, Aghdara districts, and the Asgaran fortress and raised the Azerbaijani flag there.

After 32 years, the village of Garakand, where the terrorist act was committed by Armenians, was also liberated from the enemy.

Although 32 years have passed, some moments of this tragedy still need to be cleared.

The Garrison Military Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan launched a criminal case on the fact, and the investigation was entrusted to the republican prosecutor's office. The investigation into the criminal case was suspended due to the fact that the territory was under occupation by the Armenian armed forces.