Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

A photo exhibition called "Karabakh Issue: Where from and Where to Go" was held on January 20 in Turkey's capital Ankara.

Co-organized by the Association of Eurasian cooperation of civil society and the Association of Eurasian Economic Cooperation, the photo exhibition was supported by the Council of State Support to NGOs under the Auspices of the President of Azerbaijan in the framework of financing foreign NGOs' projects, Council of State Support to NGOs said.

Dedicated to January 20 tragedy, the photo exhibition was held before the start of the conference, which was attended by the Chairman of the Council Azay Guliyev, Turkish MPs, and representatives of the diplomatic corps, civil society, and the media.

Late at night on January 20, 1990, some 26,000 Soviet special forces called "Alfa" entered Baku without declaring a state of emergency and committed atrocities against the innocent Azerbaijani people. The invasion was launched at midnight and was committed with brutality; even children, women, and the elderly were not spared.

A total of 133 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 republic.

Then event participants commemorated the victims of the Karabakh war on January 20 and the Caucasian Islamic Army, after which the conference started.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by US, Russian, and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

As a result of the Karabakh war, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.