Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's embassy in Germany has organized an event on the occasion of the 24^th anniversary of the Black January tragedy.

The event was attended by German MPs, representatives of political and cultural community, media outlets, foreign diplomats and representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Germany.

The event began with a moment of silence in memory of those who died that day, after which Azerbaijani Ambassador to Germany Parviz Shahbazov briefed about the January events.

Shahbazov said this bloody crime aimed to put down the ideals of freedom of the people of Azerbaijan by the Soviet authorities was unable to turn the nation from the path of independence.

He said Azerbaijan's great leader Heydar Aliyev, who then lived in Moscow, came to Azerbaijan's permanent representative office - a day after the tragedy - and strongly condemned those who committed the January massacre and gave the political-legal assessment to the tragedy after returning to the political power in independent Azerbaijan.

He also noted with regret that because of the information blockade at the time of the events the world media did not provide an objective description of the events.

Also, director of History of Azerbaijan department of Humboldt University of Berlin, Professor Eva-Maria Auch made representation about the history of the events of January 20.

Giving the depth analysis of the events of that period, Auch also spoke about the ethnic cleansing and massacres committed against Azerbaijanis in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Azerbaijan.

She accused the Soviet government and its leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who committed the 20 January tragedy, in encouraging the Armenian separatism.

After the official part of the event, Azerbaijani musicians living in Germany performed memorial concert featuring the works of Azerbaijan and Western composers.

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.

In total, some 133 people were killed, 611 wounded, 841 illegally arrested and five went missing as a result of the intrusion of troops into Baku and other regions of the republic.

January 20, 1990 entered into the modern history of Azerbaijan as one of the most tragic days, and at the same time as a heroic page.