A shocking case of gruesome violence inflicted upon a soldier stationed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war came to light recently, where the soldier’s body was found mutilated and head cut off. According to a report by the journalist Yeranuhi Soghoyan published on an Armenian website, the soldier named Gagik was captured and taken as a prisoner of war (POW) from a place called Tyak in Hadrut during the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict last year. The soldier’s mother Lusine said, “He was captured not by the Azeris, but by Turkish mercenaries”. Azerbaijani Turks are also known as Azeris.
The body of this soldier was returned to his mother decapitated,with marks of brutal torture
— sam martirosyan (@mrtrsyns) October 1, 2021
He was taken as POW in Hadrut in December. There was a video of him being beaten up bc he refused to say ‘Karabakh is Azerbaijan”. He was beheaded, his head wasn’t returned/found. pic.twitter.com/OYtKTKJWlP
In the video that was later obtained by the mother, it showed the soldier being kicked in the mouth as he says Karabakh is Armenia.
Further details revealed that the mother of the soldier personally identified his son’s dead body. According to the reports, the soldier was brutally tortured and his skin was flayed with multiple knife marks on the chest. There were also gunshot wounds in his leg with ribs completely broken and the head cut off. The body also carried burn marks.
The author Yeranuhi Soghoyan added, “Lusine asked the autopsy doctor if the boy’s internal organs were in place and received a negative answer. For some reason he reasoned that the body was burnt, that’s why it is not there, but the body was not burnt to such an extent that there were no internal organs, the fire did not affect the internal organs only, if that was the case, I would not be given a body, but a handful ‘Ash’, says Lusine.”
It should be mentioned that Nagorno-Karabakh is a strife-torn region that lies within the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan and is governed by ethnic Armenians. This disputed territory is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, but in de facto control of the Republic of Artsakh for decades. The Republic of Artsakh exists with no recognition from any United Nations member or observer state and has close ties with Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 that lasted for around one and half months started on 27th September and ended on November 10 with a trilateral ceasefire agreement between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, which compelled Armenia to concede all the remaining occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.
On 27th September 2020, clashes erupted on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Line of Control. It was believed that the fighting was triggered by an Azerbaijani offensive, with the support of Turkey.
Moreover, Turkey had sent two Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups into the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone comprising of around 2,500 men in support of Azerbaijan. France had accused Turkey of funnelling Syrian jihadists into the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Sunni majority countries like Turkey and Pakistan appear to have close ties with a Shia majority Azerbaijan, having recognized its independence from the USSR in 1991. Azerbaijan and Turkey have declared their support for Pakistan over its stance on the Kashmir issue openly opposing India.
