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President Aliyev pays tribute to “Black January” martyrs

20 January 2015 11:09 (UTC+04:00)
President Aliyev pays tribute to “Black January” martyrs

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited on January 20 the Alley of Martyrs to commemorate the victims of the bloody January 1990 tragedy.

The president laid a wreath on the Eternal Flame memorial as a military orchestra of the Defense Ministry played Azerbaijan’s national anthem.

The ceremony at the Alley of Martyrs was attended by Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov.

Hundreds of thousands of Baku residents and state and government officials, religious leaders, ambassadors of foreign countries, and representatives of diplomatic corps have been visiting the Alley of Martyrs since the early hours of January 20 to pay tribute to Azerbaijan`s valiant sons and daughters.

On January 20, 26,000 strong Soviet troops entered the Azerbaijani capital Baku from several directions, invading the city in a desperate, brutal and yet futile attempt to strangle the growing independence movement and to prevent the fall of the Soviet Communist regime in Azerbaijan and punish ordinary people who had rallied on the streets to voice their legitimate protest against the violation of their homeland's territorial integrity.

On that tragic night, tanks and armored vehicles crushed everything they met on the streets of Baku, and soldiers opened fire ruthlessly. Not only the people on the streets, but also those on the buses and in their homes were shot dead. The Soviet soldiers also fired at ambulances and the medical staff who rushed to help the wounded.

Some 137 people were killed, 611 were wounded, 841 were illegally arrested, and five went missing as a result of the intrusion of troops into Baku and other regions of the country.

The 20th of January, 1990 is marked in the modern history of Azerbaijan as one of the most tragic days of the country, and at the same time as a heroic page.

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