Gülüstan, Goranboy
Gulistan (, ) is a village in the Goranboy District of Azerbaijan and part of the municipality of Buzluq. The village had an Armenian majority prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and Operation Ring. History. Between the 16th and the 18th century, the Fortress of Gulistan (3 km from the village) was seat of the Principality of Gulistan under the leadership of the Armenian Melik Beglarian family, one of the Five Melikdoms of Karabakh. Gülüstan has a historical significance for being the village near where the Treaty of Gulistan was signed between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran on  12 October 1813, concluding the nine-year-long Russo-Persian War. According to the agreement, Qajar Iran was forced to recognize Russian rule over territories north of Arax river (i.e. present-day territory of Dagestan, Eastern Georgia, Northern Armenia and most of present Azerbaijan without Talysh) with the exception of the Khanates of Erivan and Nakhchivan. In the Soviet times, the village was part of the Shahumyan District, an administrative unit outside the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with an ethnic Armenian majority. Before 1991, the village was inhabited by ethnic Armenians who fled in the wake of Operation Goranboy. The  Shahumian Region was then incorporated into the Goranboy District. Currently, Gülüstan is located in close proximity to the contact line between the Artsakh Defense Army (which claims the village) and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. On 3 March 1992 an Armenian transport helicopter Mi-26 carrying around 50 women and children from Gülüstan on board was shot down with a MANPADS rocket from Azerbaijan-controlled territory, and 16 people were killed. Notable natives of the village are Garegin Balayan (1912–1943, hero of the Soviet Union) and Shahen Meghrian (1952–1993, NKR military commander of Shahumyan region).