Today marks 28 years since the occupation of Khankendi city and the adjacent territories by the Armenian armed forces.
The ethnic cleansing against the population of Khankendi, which was the central city of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, was launched since 1989.
The Armenian armed bandits persecuted and expelled the Azerbaijanis living and working in this city. From December 26th to 28th, the ethnic cleansing and occupation were committed with special atrocity. At that time, Khankendi was completely taken control of by separatists and militants from Armenia. It started with the occupation of Karkijahan settlement.
After the occupation was completed, some part of the city and forest areas was burnt down.
Until the occupation day, Karkijahan was defended by local self-defense groups consisting of villagers, newly formed police and a group of soldiers of the National Army.
As a result of the occupation, 34 people became martyrs, 150 people were injured. Three of the martyrs were women and 2 underage children.
Two secondary schools, one kindergarten, one library, one club, one automatic telephone exchange, 10 stores, one medical dispensary, five gilds belonging to different factories and other facilities were destructed.