BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 25. One year has passed since an Embraer 190 passenger aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and flying the Baku-Grozny route crashed near the city of Aktau. There were 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board, totaling 67 people. As a result of the crash, 38 people were killed, and 29 were injured, including 3 members of the flight crew.
Following the tragedy, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order awarding state honors to individuals who displayed exceptional professionalism and courage during the accident involving the AZAL Embraer 190 passenger aircraft operating the Baku-Grozny (Russian Federation) flight. Under the decree, crew members Igor Kshnyakin, Alexander Kalyaninov, and Hokuma Aliyeva were posthumously awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan.
“I cannot even describe what a year without Hokuma has been like. Even if 10, 20, or many more years pass, our pain will remain with us. There is fire inside us, a storm, a hurricane, whatever feeling you can name,” her father, Jalil Aliyev, told Trend.
Aliyev said his daughter’s greatest dream had been to buy a home in Kalbajar.
“Fate decided that President Ilham Aliyev himself presented our family with the keys to a house in Kalbajar. I currently live in Samukh, while my son lives in that house in Kalbajar with his family. He works at the DOST Center in Kalbajar,” he said.
Aliyev noted that after their lands were occupied, the family lived as internally displaced persons in various regions of Russia and Azerbaijan.
“Until our lands were liberated, we lived in different parts of Russia and Azerbaijan as displaced persons, and since 2003, we have been settled in Samukh. When I asked Hokuma why she wanted to work as a flight attendant, she said that, because we had lived in many cities, being in different places was her hobby. Hokuma had bought herself an apartment in Baku’s Nasimi district. It has been 1 year now that I cannot bring myself to go near her home,” he said.
According to her father, Hokuma was calm by nature and well aware of her rights.
“My daughter began working at Azerbaijan Airlines in 2016, first as a translator and later as a flight attendant. In September 2024, she took an exam to work as a lawyer at Azerbaijan Airlines, and she was supposed to start her new position after that final flight (the one in which the crash occurred). Hokuma had also been accepted to the University of Liverpool for a master’s degree, but I did not allow her to go,” Aliyev said.
He added that during a meeting with the family, President Ilham Aliyev assured them that those responsible for the plane crash would receive the punishment they deserve.
Aliyev also emphasized the respect and recognition shown in memory of his daughter.
“An armored military ambulance produced in Kazakhstan has been named after the National Hero of Azerbaijan, Hokuma Aliyeva. She was awarded the Chingiz Aitmatov Medal for her great humanitarianism. In Poland, the Azerbaijani diaspora organization, together with the Student Youth Organization, established a scholarship in Hokuma Aliyeva’s name. Already 7 Azerbaijani students are benefiting from this scholarship,” he said.
Aliyev added that the family continues to wait for those responsible for the crash to be apprehended.
“In the summer, I visited the site where the plane crash occurred. When I returned from there, I could not pull myself together,” he said.
On December 23, a commemorative postage stamp dedicated to the AZAL aircraft that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25 last year was issued. The release of the stamp was a joint initiative of AZAL and Azerpost LLC and was dedicated to the anniversary of the crash near Aktau.
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