Yeraskh () is a village in the

Ararat Municipality Ararat (, ) is a province ('' marz'') of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat. The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It is bordered by Turkey from the west and Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republi ...

of the

Ararat Province Ararat (, ) is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz (territorial entity), marz'') of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat, Armenia, Artashat. The province is named after the biblical Mount Ararat. It i ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. Yeraskh is the closest Armenian village to the closed border with Azerbaijan. The settlement is adjacent to Heydarabad, Azerbaijan across the border, is beside

European route E99 The European route E99 or E99 is a European road running from Dəmirçi, Azerbaijan to Akçakale in Turkey on Syrian border. Route *: Dəmirçi () *: Aralık - Iğdır *: Iğdır - Doğubeyazıt () - Muradiye *: Muradiye - Erciş *: ...

highway in Turkey, and is also near to the Iranian village of Qush. The train station in Yeraskh was previously connected with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, and used to be the main road and rail connections between Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan proper. The rail line also was the only direct connection between the former

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Because of the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

, the border is under severe blockade and no trains are allowed to pass. On 9 November 2020, a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Mil Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity transport helicopter, troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced ...

helicopter (

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

"Hind") was shot down near Yeraskh by the

Azerbaijani Armed Forces The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were ...

with a

MANPADS Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS or MPADS) are portable shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters and also used against low-flying cruise missi ...

during the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involvi ...

. Two of the crew members died, while another was injured as a result of the attack.

References

* * * Populated places in Ararat Province {{AraratAM-geo-stub