Hikmat Hajiyev shares AnewZ documentary on Spanish aviators of Ganja

Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev shared on his X account an AnewZ documentary about Ganja's Spanish aviators, Report informs.

The film, titled "The Aviators of Ganja – AnewZ Investigative Documentary," is dedicated to one of the little-known chapters in the history of Ganja, Azerbaijan's second-largest city after Baku.

The documentary says the fate of young Spaniards who came to Ganja for pilot training during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 later changed as a result of political developments. After Franco's victory, many of them were unable to return home and remained in the Soviet Union.

Some of the pilots later served in the Soviet army and took part in the defense of Azerbaijan's skies and Baku's oil fields against Nazi air raids during World War II. Many of them never managed to return to their homeland.

The documentary emphasizes that the hospitality of the Azerbaijani people and their willingness to share what they had even in difficult times held a special place in the memories of the Spanish aviators.

The story of Ganja's Spanish pilots is presented as one of the little-known but moving pages of history.

Gəncənin yaddaşında gizlənən bir sirr var idi: niyə bəzi yaşlılar bir məktəbi “İspan məktəbi” adlandırır, şəhərdə isə ispan pilotlarının məzarları qalırdı? Uşaqlıqdan bu suallar məni həmişə düşündürürdü.@AnewZ-un hazırladığı sənədli film bu unudulmuş tarixə işıq salır.… pic.twitter.com/VgpM2F7LSZ

— Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) July 19, 2026