Former Qarabag player Garakhan Aliyev speaks to Idman.biz about his career and experiences in the football environment of Khankendi 40 years ago.
- Mr. Garakhan, you played for the Khankendi Qarabag club for a period. How do you remember the football scene from 40 years ago?
- Yes, I played for Qarabag for nearly three years. At that time, the team was part of the 9th zone and played in the 1st league. I started playing football when I was 16. I attended the football school in Khankendi for 4 years. Later, I started playing for the Qarabag club in the city. After about three years with the team, I had to leave.
- Why?
- There were only two Azerbaijanis in the team – me and a boy named Ilgar. The rest were Armenians. I was already facing pressure from them at that time; they would tell me to go play with Azerbaijanis.
- When you mention pressure, what exactly do you mean?
- They wouldn't let me play. They would pass the ball to each other, and I would be left standing in the middle. I remember there were three Armenians from Yerevan, two of them were twin brothers. I never gave them space in two-sided games. The coach would even provoke them by saying, “You can't beat a Turk.” Then, they would gather five or ten people to come after me. We had arguments many times, and they beat me up. There were many of them, and I was alone. What could I do? They didn't allow me to play. So, I left and joined the Mingachevir team. After a while, I went to Russia and played for the Start team in Ulyanovsk for a short period.
- Why was it a short period?
- It didn’t work out with them. Their team played football in the summer and ice hockey in the winter. I wasn’t good at hockey.
- Why didn’t you return to Azerbaijan afterward?
- Actually, while I was in Russia, I received several telegrams from here urging me to return. Especially, our coach, Rasim, insisted that I come back. But by then, I felt that I had lost my previous form. Then, circumstances led me to permanently distance myself from football.
- Did you ever try to join a top-tier club in Azerbaijan?
- You know, during the Soviet era, it was very difficult to break into those teams. But I played as much as I could. They called me the ‘Maradona of Qarabag.’
- Which football club do you support?
- Of course, Qarabag.
- Do you have a photo of you in the Qarabag kit from back then?
- Unfortunately, when we left Khojaly, I couldn’t take those photos.
- You were also a witness to the Khojaly massacre.
- First, they destroyed the trenches. We didn’t have any weapons to fight them off. We were forced to leave the city. We helped the elderly and children as much as we could. We then came to Agdam and later settled in Naftalan. Both of my parents became martyrs that night. I lost many of my relatives in that tragedy. There is a scene from the Khojaly footage where a child with a white scarf on his head appears – that’s my uncle’s grandson, Mehdi. The elderly man in the frame is my uncle. The child’s parents and two brothers' bodies were never found. Mehdi is now a grown man with his own family. But no matter how many years pass, Khojaly will always be a wound in our hearts. As long as we live, the pain of that tragedy will be with us.
After the lands were liberated, I started visiting Khojaly two or three times a month. My house there is still under repair by the government. I’m planning to move there once the repairs are complete. Imagine, I built a new house, but I never had the chance to live in it. We repaired it, locked the door, and left. An Armenian lived in my house for years. May God protect our army, and may the souls of the martyrs rest in peace. Thanks to them, we were able to see Khojaly again. Since Khojaly was surrounded by Armenians, I never had hope of returning. I feared that I might never see it again.
- If you hadn’t been forced to leave Qarabag, would you have continued playing football?
- Of course. Football has always remained a bittersweet memory in my heart. Now, I’ve put my grandchildren into football. We haven’t seen life... We opened our eyes and closed them as old men. Our youth has gone. Today I am 65, but even now, when I see children playing football in the yard, my heart jumps, wishing I could still play.
Aytaj Sahed
Idman.biz
