After Shusha was liberated from occupation, the discovery of the graves of prominent representatives of Azerbaijani literature Gasim bey Zakir and Mirza Alasgar Novras during research carried out in the city has aroused public interest. A few days ago, footage of those graves was shared on social networks and widely discussed.
Elshan Badalov, a veteran of the Patriotic War and a senior warrant officer, who contacted the editorial office of Globalinfo.az, said that he was one of the people who first filmed Gasim bey Zakir’s grave and carried out cleanup work at the cemetery.
According to him, in November 2020, after Shusha was liberated from occupation, on 8 November, together with his comrade-in-arms, warrant officer Amid Safiyev, they entered the cemetery, cleared the area of thorns and uncovered the graves. The footage was shared on a YouTube channel in December.
“I am originally from the Alpan village of Guba district. I am a senior warrant officer and am still serving in the military. I began fighting in the Patriotic War from the Fuzuli direction and covered a combat path all the way to Shusha. I took part in the battles for Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Shusha. Along with the ‘Brave Warrior’ medal, I have also been awarded the medals ‘For the liberation of Fuzuli’, ‘For the liberation of Jabrayil’, ‘For the liberation of Gubadli’ and ‘For the liberation of Shusha’. In addition, I was awarded a certificate of honour by the Ministry of Defence,” the war veteran noted.
Elshan Badalov
He said that when he entered the city after Shusha was liberated from occupation, one of the first places he visited was Gasim bey Zakir’s grave:
“Together with my comrade-in-arms, warrant officer Amid Safiyev, we entered the cemetery and carried out cleanup work there. The area was covered with thorny plants. We cleared the area around the graves, uncovered the headstones and tidied up the cemetery. As I said, we shot that footage in November 2020. However, the video was shared on a YouTube channel in December. At that time, our capabilities with regard to the internet and the dissemination of footage were limited. In the cemetery there were graves of Gasim bey Zakir, Mirza Alasgar Novras, as well as graves dating back to the Karabakh Khanate period. We carried out cleanup work on and around those graves. We tried to uncover the inscriptions and headstones on the graves. There were also gravestones written in Arabic letters. Later I heard that other people had also gone to that cemetery and filmed. However, we did not send the footage we shot to news sites or other platforms. That is why many people did not know about the work we did at that time.”
More details in the video:
Zaira Akifgizi
Globalinfo.az
