The Kalbajar massacre is a pain of the past that has become a force of rebirth

During the trial in Baku, former Karabakh separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan, after listening to the testimony of witnesses of the Kalbajar massacre, said that he had heard about this crime for the first time. Sincerely or deliberately, the war criminal was shocked by what he heard.

It is quite possible that Harutyunyan really did not know about what happened on March 31, 1993 in the tunnel on the Kalbajar-Lachin road. This crime was committed directly by the Armenian armed forces, who crossed the state border at the end of March to capture the gold-rich Kalbajar. The incompetent and confused leadership of Azerbaijan at that time was unable to organize the defense of a strategically important area. For some reason, it was believed that Armenia would not dare to occupy Kalbajar, as a result of which its defense failed. When the enemy launched an offensive, it was too late to transfer units from other directions. And it is difficult in conditions of high mountains and a shortage of roads. The units defending Kalbajar fought heroically and stood to the last. But the forces were not equal.

Confusion reigned in Baku. One wrong step followed another. It is a criminal step to send recruits gathered from the streets of the capital who cannot handle weapons to the combat zone. The recruits, who did not have time to train, were transported to Kalbajar by helicopters and left under mortar fire from the Armenian Armed Forces and under the tracks of Armenian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. It would have been much more reasonable to mobilize and arm the local population, which was better prepared for such a task, but the then authorities and the military leadership, which did not serve the national interests, decided otherwise.

Eventually, an order came from Baku to begin evacuating the Kalbajars. Again, belated.

At the end of March 1993, the Armenian Armed Forces seized the only road connecting 36 villages of Kalbajar district. Here, at the tunnel located on the Kalbajar-Lachin highway, a massacre took place. 52 people were brutally murdered by Armenians, 64 were taken hostage. All the dead and captured were civilians.

At the trial of the Armenian criminals, the witnesses of the massacre in the tunnel shared their terrible memories.

Witness Bakhtiyar Guliyev said that on March 31, 1993, he, his family and other civilians tried to leave Kalbajar in a truck. The truck was fired at by the Armenian military near the tunnel. Of those in the car, most were killed and many were injured, including 9-year-old Guliyev himself.

Nasiba Guliyeva, 13, was in the same truck. She received multiple injuries during the shelling, after which she and her younger sister and three brothers were taken hostage. She still doesn't know anything about the fate of her 3-year-old sister and two brothers.

After her release from Armenian captivity, Nasiba received higher education, became a teacher, and started a family. However, he still lives with fragments in his body. Her stay in Armenian captivity was not without consequences for her brothers either. While being held hostage, the children were subjected to terrible tortures. The Armenians gouged out one of Bakhtiar's 9-year-old eyes.

There were mostly children in that truck. After the Khojaly genocide, the Kalbajars did not believe in the humanity of the Armenians and hoped to save their children by sending them by truck to a safe place. Parents didn't think they were sending their kids to hell.

Having seized the only road, the Armenians did not leave any humanitarian corridors for the local population, as they say now, and did not give them time to pack up and find ways to escape. Cars with people trying to escape were not accompanied by the military, civilians were left to their own devices. Gultekin Jalilova, a resident of one of the villages of Kalbajar, told the court the terrible details of what happened. Her family's car was stopped near the tunnel. The Armenian soldiers took away all their jewelry and their car. There were also empty trucks here, the same ones that had been "liberated" from Kalbajar children and the elderly. But the scariest part began on the other side of the tunnel, with screams and groans everywhere... The Jalilov family had great difficulty getting to Ganja on foot. They got frostbite on their feet, but at least they were alive...

When leaving Kalbajar district in November 2020, the Armenians wanted to blow up the tunnel. Fortunately, they did not succeed. The tunnel was built in Soviet times and has a length of 200 meters. Today it is illuminated and continues to be used. The area is being revived, rebuilt, and life is returning here with the true owners. And soon the residents of the district will have new opportunities to communicate with neighboring regions.

In August 2021, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva visited Kalbajar and Lachin districts. In Kalbajar, the Head of state and the First Lady took part in the groundbreaking ceremony of an 11.6-kilometer tunnel passing under the Murovdag ridge. The Murovdag tunnel, which is currently being actively completed, is located on the Toganaly-Kalbajar highway. After completion of the work, this road will connect the Goygol and Kalbajar districts.

The Head of State also laid the foundation of a 3.4-kilometer tunnel on the Kalbajar-Lachin highway. The one. The road is being reconstructed and there will be a new, modern tunnel on it.

The President said: "Highways are of particular importance for the comprehensive development of this entire region, East Zangezur. When the investment program for the liberated lands was being developed, on my instructions, tunnels were included in these projects, including on the road leading to Shusha, and tunnels are being built here. Tunnel construction is difficult, especially in such difficult mountainous terrain, and requires a lot of money. But we are doing it and we will do it. Because it is necessary for the development of the region, Eastern Zangezur. After people return here, they will have a very convenient connection with other regions of Azerbaijan. The ties between Kalbajar and Lachin districts will be strengthened."

In 2021, Kalbajar's revival has just begun. And in August 2025, the head of state already met here with former internally displaced persons who returned to their native lands. This time, for the first time, President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva came to the area not through the Omar Pass, but through a newly built tunnel. At a meeting with the public of the district, the President of Azerbaijan spoke about the projects that are already being implemented in Kalbajar. Including road ones.

The Murovdag range begins from the 14th kilometer of the Toganaly-Kalbajar highway, where the terrain changes dramatically. This tunnel is one of the longest in the world: in terms of length, it ranks 18th in the world and 5th in Europe and is the longest in the CIS. In addition to the Murovdag tunnel, four more tunnels with a total length of 2,636 meters are under construction. Most of the work on all projects has already been completed.

The Murovdag tunnel has opened a new era for Azerbaijan's road infrastructure. In general, the liberation Patriotic War of 2020 opened a new era for Kalbajar. The largest region of Azerbaijan was retaken without a single shot being fired. And that in itself is a huge victory.

The memory of the tragedies that befell the Azerbaijani people, the memory of the tragedy that happened at the tunnel on the Kalbajar-Lachin road in March 1993, will never be erased. But life goes on.