Albert Agarunov
Albert Agarunovich Agarunov (Azerbaijani: Albert Aqarunov) (25 April 1969 – 7 May 1992) was a Starshina of the Azerbaijani Army who died during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. He was among the last Azerbaijanis to defend Shusha[citation needed], which was seized by Armenian forces on May 9, 1992.
[edit] Life
Albert Agarunov was born in a Baku suburb to Mountain Jewish parents[citation needed] Agarun (an oil-worker and Quba-native) and Leah Agarunov; he was one of the family's ten children. After obtaining a degree in technology, he started working at a machine-building factory as a metal turner.
[edit] Military service
He served in the Soviet Army from 1987 to 1989. In 1991, he voluntarily enlisted in the Azerbaijani Army in the war against Armenia Azerbaijan's over Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to Azerbaijani sources, on December 8, 1991, Agarunov along with driver Agababa Huseynov managed to disable nine Armenian tanks and two armoured trucks.[1] He served as a tank commander in the defense of Shusha in May 1992, when the Armenians launched the successful assault to take this strategically important town. He took part in a famous tank engagement against a T-72, commanded by Gagik Avsharian, knocking it out of commission on the road leading to the town.[2]
Agarunov was killed several days later on the road connecting Shusha to Lachin.[3] He was posthumously awarded the title of the National Hero of Azerbaijan and was buried at Martyrs' Lane in Baku in May 1992.
[edit] Notes
- ^ (Russian) Jabrayilli, G. He Gave His Life for His Homeland, Golos Karabakha. Retrieved 22 May 2007.
- ^ De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press, pp. 178-179.
- ^ De Waal. Black Garden, p. 314, note 42.
