Monstrous terrorist attack by Armenians against Azerbaijanis rushing to help them in Spitak

A devastating earthquake occurred near the Armenian city of Spitak on December 7, 1988, killing 25,000 people. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was in power then, called on the international community, as well as the union republics, to assist Armenia. It all happened at the time when the Dashnaks carried out the killings, genocide and deportation of Azerbaijanis in Armenia. On December 12, 1988, an Il-76 aircraft flew from Azerbaijan to Armenia to provide assistance to the Armenians affected by the earthquake. However, the plane crashed not far from the town of Gugark, Spitak region, killing 76 out of 77 Azerbaijanis on board. Fahraddin Balayev was the only one who survived. Sixty-eight Azerbaijani passengers and nine crew members became victims of this monstrous terrorist attack. The "black box" of the aircraft was destroyed. There is information that Armenians shot down the plane by a Stinger missile. On the same day, Armenian terrorists downed the Yugoslav An-12 aircraft, mistaking it for Turkish. That aircraft was also on its way to Armenia to provide assistance to the Armenians affected by the earthquake. Seven people on board the plane were killed.

The only witness to the incident, Fahraddin Balaev, died in 2010. His son Gurban Balayev shared his father's memories of that tragedy with Report.

Gurban Balayev noted that his father worked as a mechanic in Khirdalan: "My father, along with others, was forcibly sent from work to Armenia to help the Armenians affected by the earthquake. He spent two days in a military unit located in the village of Haji Zeynalabdin, and then boarded the Il-76 aircraft flying from Baku to Armenia."

After the Armenians shot down the aircraft with a missile, the Il-76 plane, flying on a Baku-Gyumri route, crashed near Leninakan.

Gurban Balayev said that at the time of the tragedy, Fakhraddin Balayev was inside a car and therefore remained alive, although he received numerous injuries:

"In the chaos, the mechanic accidentally touched the control panel. The plane door opened and the car with my father flew out of the door. This saved his life. The rest of the passengers became victims of this tragedy."

Gurban Balayev noted that Vagif Ahmadov, an Azerbaijani who had previously been sent to Armenia to assist the Armenians, happened to be near the crash site:

"It was he who took my father to the hospital. The Armenians did not want to provide him with medical assistance, despite his serious condition. 'Turks have no place among Armenians,' they said. They even tried to kill my father. However, the Russians managed to save my father and he was sent to Moscow for treatment. Subsequently, he continued treatment in Baku, but it was not possible to fully restore his health. He died in 2010."

The 76 people who died in the crash of the plane heading to help the Armenians received the status of martyrs by the decree of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev in 1994.