1991 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown

Last updated
1991 Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter shootdown
Mi-8 Hip Roving Sands 99.jpg
A Mil Mi-8 similar to the aircraft shot down
Shootdown
DateNovember 20, 1991
SummaryShootdown
Site Berdashen (Karakend),
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan (de jure)
Flag of Armenia.svg Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (de facto)
Aircraft
Aircraft type Mil Mi-8
Registration 72
Flight origin Aghdam
Destination Martuni
Fatalities22
Survivors0

On November 20, 1991, an Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 military helicopter, carrying a peacekeeping mission team consisting of 13 Azerbaijani government officials, two Russian and one Kazakhstani Ministry of Internal Affairs officials, three Azerbaijani journalists and three helicopter crew was shot down amidst heavy fighting near the village of Berdashen, also known as Karakend, in Nagorno-Karabakh. [1] [2] All 22 people (19 passengers and three crew) on board were killed in the crash. [3] The incident is known in Azerbaijan as the ''Karakend tragedy''. [4]

Contents

Background

In accordance with the Zheleznovodsk communique initiated by Boris Yeltsin and Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Russian city of Zheleznovodsk for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and their subsequent shuttle diplomacy visit to the region in September 1991, officials from Russia and Kazakhstan were placed in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) for an observation mission.

On the eve of the crash, the Armenian side ceased the peace talks with Azerbaijan until Azerbaijan re-opened the natural gas supply to Armenia, which it had cut off on November 4. [5] The team of observers along with representatives of Azerbaijani government were to fly from Aghdam to Martuni due to rising tension in the district. [1]

Shootdown

The helicopter MI-8 with the observation team departed from Aghdam on 20 November 1991 with 22 people on board and was shot down en route with a group of ZSU-23-4 Shilka and SA-6 missiles, killing everyone on board. [6] The attack on the helicopter disrupted the ongoing peace talks. [7] [8]

Various conspiracy theories about the incident have since been in circulation, and are promoted by various political figures in Azerbaijan, who claim that the shootdown was a political assassination. Despite an absence of official investigation evidence, such theories are considered credible by a significant part of the Azerbaijani population.

List of victims [3] [9] [10]
Full namePositionCountry
Tofig Ismayilov Secretary of State Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Ismat Gayibov Public Prosecutor General Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Mahammad Asadov Minister of Internal Affairs, State AdvisorFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Zulfi Hajiyev Deputy Prime Minister Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Osman Mirzayev Head of Presidential Administration, journalistFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Ali Mustafayev Journalist of Azerbaijani State TV, [11] AzerbaijanFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Vagif Jafarov Member of ParliamentFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Vali Mammadov  [ ru ]Member of ParliamentFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Igor PlavskiPublic Prosecutor of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO)Flag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Saylau Serikov Deputy Minister of Internal AffairsFlag of the Kazakh SSR.svg  Kazakhstan
Fakhraddin Shahbazov Cameraman, Azerbaijani State TVFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Arif Huseynzadeh Lights technician, Azerbaijani State TVFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Rafig Mammadov Aide to Secretary of StateFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Sergey IvanovHead of department of National Security Ministry, NKAOFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Nikolai Zhinkin  [ ru ]Commandant for Emergency Situations of NKAOFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Mikhail LukashovMajor General, MVDFlag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Russia
Oleg KocherevLieutenant Colonel, MVD Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg  Russia
Vladimir KovalyovHead of Ministry of Internal Affairs of NKAOFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Gurban Namazaliyev  [ az ]Deputy Prime Minister of Amelioration and Water ManagementFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Vyacheslav KotovCommander of helicopter crewFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Gennadiy DomovMember of the helicopter crewFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan
Dmitry YarovenkoMember of the helicopter crewFlag of Azerbaijan.svg  Azerbaijan

Investigation

Initial reports by central state agency TASS claimed the helicopter flew into fog and crashed into a hill. On November 21, the chairman of the crash investigation committee announced over TV that the helicopter was shot at by large caliber weapons and the weapons and video equipment were stolen from the site of the incident. [1] At 6:30 PM, the same day, the deputy Chief of Command of Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs of USSR, Vyacheslav Ponomarev left for Aghdam. The Interior Ministry officials declared they would not withdraw the internal troop detachments from the district due to escalation of the conflict. The investigation committee was also to determine where the victims would be buried. [1] However, because the area of the crash was soon captured by Armenian militants, the investigation was suspended and no one was indicted. [12]

The investigation was initiated for clarifying the reasons for the crash. The first version was transferred by TASS referring to the commander's special area of NKAO: helicopter exploded, sprung upon a rock in the fog. [1] However, an investigation found holes in the fuselage consistent with the explosion of a rocket. [13] Investigation Commission Chairman Adil Agayev said that the helicopter was shot down from the ground by a large-caliber weapon, video equipment and weapons from the crash site were removed. [1] Armenians denied any involvement, although they were blamed immediately for the incident. [13] In response to Agayev the deputies of the USSR from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Zori Balayan, Victor Hambardzumyan, Henrik Igityan, Sos Sargsyan accused Central television of bias and hinted at the uninvolvement of Armenians in the crash. [1] According to American researcher Michael P. Croissant, it appeared to be an Armenian rocket attack. [6]

Aftermath

After the public burial of the Azerbaijani victims in Baku on November 22, demonstrations began. The protestors demanded the Supreme Soviet and the chairman of Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Ayaz Mutalibov, to establish authority in Karabakh or resign from office.

As a result, the Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet called a special session on November 26 requesting the imposition of martial law in the republic, withdrawing cadets and officers of Azerbaijani ethnicity from the Soviet Army and ceasing all negotiations with Armenia. [1]

On November 27, the Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet voted in favour of abolishing the autonomous status of NKAO and established direct rule over it. It also officially changed the name of Stepanakert to its pre-Soviet name, Khankendi, and re-arranged administrative division of the rayons in Nagorno-Karabakh area. [6] [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Nagorno-Karabakh War</span> 1988–1994 Armenia-Azerbaijan war

The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan with support from Turkey. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, entangled themselves in protracted, undeclared mountain warfare in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast</span> Region in the Azerbaijan SSR (1923–1991)

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its capital was the city of Stepanakert. The majority of the population were ethnic Armenians.

Operation Ring, known in Azerbaijan as Operation Chaykand was the codename for the May 1991 military operation conducted by the Soviet Army, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of the USSR and OMON units of the Azerbaijan SSR in the Khanlar and Shahumyan districts of the Azerbaijani SSR, the Shusha, Martakert and Hadrut districts of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, and along the eastern border of the Armenian SSR in the districts of Goris, Noyemberyan, Ijevan and Shamshadin. Officially dubbed a "passport checking operation," the ostensible goal of the operation was to disarm "illegal armed formations" in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, referring to irregular Armenian military detachments that had been operating in the area. The operation involved the use of ground troops accompanied by a complement of military vehicles, artillery and helicopter gunships to be used to root out the self-described Armenian fedayeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karakend</span> Place in Khojavend, Azerbaijan

Karakend, or Berdashen is a village in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. The village had an ethnic Armenian-majority population until the exodus of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Iranian Air Force C-130 shootdown</span> Aviation incident

The 1994 Iranian Air Force C-130 shootdown occurred on March 17, 1994, when an Iranian Air Force C-130E military transport aircraft, carrying Iranian embassy personnel from Moscow to Tehran, was shot down by Armenian military forces near the city of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh, an area which had been under armed conflict since 1988. The 32 people on board were killed in the crash.

Operation Goranboy was a large-scale military offensive by Azerbaijan in the summer of 1992. Its aims were to take complete control of the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and put a decisive end to the secessionist Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR). This offensive is regarded as a successful breakthrough by the Azerbaijani Army and marked the peak of Azerbaijani success throughout the entire six years of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown</span> Helicopter incident near Shusha, Azerbaijan

On January 28, 1992, Azerbaijani transport helicopter Mil Mi-8 was shot down by a heat-seeking missile near the town of Shusha.

The Zheleznovodsk Communiqué, also known as the Zheleznovodsk Declaration or Zheleznovodsk Accords, is the joint peace communiqué mediated by Russian President, Boris Yeltsin and Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev in Zheleznovodsk, Russia on September 23, 1991, with an intention to end the three-year-long hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, still an autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR. Although consensus was reached, the treaty was never ratified.

Ismat Ismayil oglu Gayibov was the Public Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan.

Aly Mustafayev Mustafa oglu was an Azerbaijani journalist and reporter during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Battle of Aghdam took place on 23 July 1993 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which Armenian forces captured the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam. The city of Aghdam, which had about 50,000 inhabitants prior to its capture, is located about 30 km northeast of Stepanakert and 5 km east of the border of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Armenian forces considered Aghdam as a main staging area of Azerbaijani forces for attacks and artillery strikes against the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region. A significant part of the surrounding Aghdam District was captured by Armenian forces as well.

The Tehran Communiqué, also known as the Joint statement of the heads of state in Tehran is the joint communiqué mediated by Iranian President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and signed by the acting President of Azerbaijan, Yagub Mammadov and President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian on May 7, 1992 with an intention to end the four-year-long hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a former autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR.

The Capture of Gushchular and Malibeyli was an incident in which eight ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were killed by Armenian irregular armed units in simultaneous attacks on the villages of Malibeyli, Ashaghi Gushchular, and Yukhari Gushchular in the Shusha District of Azerbaijan, on February 10–12, 1992 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Tofik Ismailov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and served as the first Secretary of State of Azerbaijan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast</span> 1991 Azerbaijani law stripping Nagorno-Karabakh of autonomous status

The Law on Abolishment of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was a motion passed by the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan and signed into law by the President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov on November 26, 1991. The law had been prompted by a vote in the National Assembly of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in favor of uniting itself with the Armenian SSR on 20 February 1988. The vote was followed by an independence referendum in 1991 which was boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of the Oblast; most voted in favor of independence. While these votes and elections had mainly been conducted in a relatively peaceful manner, in the following months, as the Soviet Union disintegrated, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis. Both sides claimed that ethnic cleansing was being carried out. The declaration of secession from Azerbaijan was the final result of a territorial conflict regarding the land.

Mahammad Asadov was the State Advisor to the President of Azerbaijan and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Stepanakert</span> Battle during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War

The siege of Stepanakert started in late 1991, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in Stepanakert, the largest city in Nagorno-Karabakh, when the Azerbaijani forces circled the city. Until May 1992, the city and its Armenian population were the target of a months-long campaign of bombardment by Azerbaijan. The bombardment of Stepanakert and adjacent Armenian towns and villages, which took place under the conditions of total blockade by Azerbaijan, caused widespread destruction and many civilian deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Armenian Mil Mi-24 shootdown</span> 2014 Helicopter shootdown

On 12 November 2014, an Armenian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter was shot down by Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, killing all three crew members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1988 violence in Shusha and Stepanakert</span> Expulsion of Armenians from Shusha and Azerbaijanis from Stepanakert

The 1988 violence in Shusha and Stepanakert was the expulsion of the ethnic Armenian population of Shusha and the ethnic Azerbaijani population of Stepanakert, in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast in the Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union, from September 18 to 20, 1988. During the violence, 33 Armenians and 16 Azerbaijanis were wounded, more than 30 houses hed been set on fire, and a 61-year-old Armenian was killed. At the end of the violence, 3,117 ethnic Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Stepanakert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Russian Mil Mi-24 shootdown</span> Aviation incident

On 9 November 2020, a Russian Mil Mi-24 helicopter was shot down by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. It was shot down near Yeraskh, in Armenia, a few kilometers away from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as a result of fire from the ground from man-portable air-defense system. Two of the crew members died, while another was injured as a result of the attack. Azerbaijani authorities soon issued a statement of apology, saying that the shootdown happened by mistake and offered compensation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roman Glebov (1991-11-25). "Республики. В Азербайджане сбит вертолет с VIP на борту" [Republics. A helicopter with VIP on board has been shot down in Azerbaijan.] (in Russian). Kommersant . Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  2. ↑ Menashri, David (1998). Central Asia Meets Middle East. London, Great Britain: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. p. 155. ISBN   0-7146-4600-8.
  3. 1 2 "Azerbaijan Association. 17 year passes since "Mi-8" military helicopter was shot in Garakand sky – complete list of the perished people". November 21, 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Qarakənd faciəsi – 30 il – Xəbərlər – ŞUŞA RAYON Icra Hakimiyyəti". www.shusha-ih.gov.az. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  5. ↑ Eichensehr, Kristen; Reisman, W.Michael (1998). Stopping Wars and Making Peace: Studies in International Intervention. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 55. ISBN   978-90-04-17855-7.
  6. 1 2 3 Croissant, Michael P. (1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: causes and implications. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p. 45. ISBN   0-275-96241-5.
  7. 1 2 Карабах: хронология конфликта [Karabakh: Chronology of the conflict]. BBC News (in Russian). 2005-08-29. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  8. ↑ Хронология событий в конфликтных точках СНГ [Chronology of events in conflict spots of CIS] (in Russian). Peacekeeper.ru. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  9. ↑ Террористические акты, совершенные на воздушных судах [Terror acts committed on air transport] (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2 May 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  10. ↑ "23 years have passed since Armenians shot down military helicopter with Azerbaijani political elite on board". Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  11. ↑ "International Eurasia Press Fund. 5 journalists were killed in 1991". July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  12. ↑ K. Zarbaliyeva (2008-11-19). "Investigation into Crash of Helicopter with Azerbaijani Senior Officials Suspended". Trend News Agency. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  13. 1 2 Croissant, Michael P. (1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: causes and implications . Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. p.  55. ISBN   0-275-96241-5.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.