Bağanıs Ayrım[1] is an abandoned village in the Qazakh District of Azerbaijan. The village was controlled by Armenia from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the early 1990s until 2024, when Armenia agreed to return the village to Azerbaijan.

Bağanıs Ayrım
Bağanıs Ayrım is located in Azerbaijan
Bağanıs Ayrım
Bağanıs Ayrım
Coordinates: 41°05′48″N 45°04′55″E / 41.09667°N 45.08194°E / 41.09667; 45.08194
Country Azerbaijan
DistrictQazakh
Population
 (2024)
 • Total0
Time zoneUTC+4 (AZT)

History

On 22 March 1990, Azerbaijani farmers shot at passing trucks and cars with Armenian license plates, wounding several people in a Volga sedan.[2]

In retaliation, four days later, several cars full of Armenians armed with shotguns and assault rifles attacked Bağanıs Ayrım before dawn, setting fire to about 20 houses and killing 8 Azerbaijani civilians. The bodies of one family, including an infant, were reportedly found burnt in the embers of their house.[2] According to Kommersant, eleven inhabitants of the village died during the attack.[3]

On 16 August 1990, a police checkpoint in the village was fired at by two Armenian militiamen driving a Zhiguli car. One of the men, a native of Yerevan, was detained and imprisoned in Ganja. In a phone call between the heads of the Qazakh District and the Noyemberyan District, the latter reportedly threatened that fedayeen would destroy Azeri villages if the prisoner was not released.[3]

On 19 August 1990, the village was reportedly shelled with a variety of heavy weapons by Armenian militants, who took control of it after several hours of fighting, allegedly with the help of reinforcements who had been flown in on helicopters from Yerevan. Azeri control over the village was restored the next day with the assistance of Soviet internal troops under General Yuri Shatalin [ru].[3]

On 19 April 2024, Armenia agreed to return Bağanıs Ayrım to Azerbaijan,[4] which happened on 24 May.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Qazaxın 4 kəndi artıq nəzarətimizdədir - Rəsmi". Qafqaz Info. 24 May 2024. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b Cullen, Robert (15 April 1991). "A Reporter at Large, Roots". The New Yorker. pp. 55–58.
  3. ^ a b c "АРМЕНИЯ - АЗЕРБАЙДЖАН: ЭТО УЖЕ ПРОСТО ВОЙНА". www.kommersant.ru (in Russian). 20 August 1990. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  4. ^ Bagirova, Nailia (19 April 2024). "Foes Azerbaijan and Armenia agree 'historic' return of villages". Reuters.
  5. ^ "Azerbaijan Regains Control Over 4 Villages Near Armenian Border". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service. Archived from the original on 17 August 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.