Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, has shared a documentary about the history of Spanish pilots trained in Ganja.

Axar.az reports that Hajiyev wrote on X: "Ganja has long held a hidden mystery for me: why did some elderly residents call one of its schools the 'Spanish School,' and why were there graves of Spanish pilots in the city? Those questions have stayed with me since childhood."

He said that AnewZ's documentary "The Aviators of Ganja" sheds light on this forgotten chapter of history:

"During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), young Spanish pilots came to Ganja for flight training. Franco’s victory changed their lives forever. Many were unable to return home, remained in the Soviet Union, and later served in the Soviet Air Force. During World War II, some helped defend Azerbaijan’s skies and the strategic Baku oil fields against Nazi air attacks, while many never saw their homeland again.

Yet what endured most in their memories was the generosity of the Azerbaijani people, who shared what little they had even in the hardest of times. One of history’s little-known, yet deeply moving, stories," Hajiyev wrote.