World Azerbaijanis commemorate victims of Black January
The Azerbaijani embassies operating in different countries have
organized commemorative events to mark the 25th anniversary of the
January 20 tragedy.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Great Britain and Buta Art Center held a
commemorative event dedicated to the Black January victims.
Addressing the event director of the Buta Art Center Nasib Piriyev
and ambassador Tahir Tagizade said that the 20 January 1990 is a
day, which went down in the history as the struggle for the freedom
and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and as a heroism page.
They also expressed their confidence that the instigators of
this tragedy will be judged and punished.
Addressing at the commemorative event organized by the Azerbaijani
embassy to Latvia Ambassador Elman Zeynalov asked the participants
to stay for one minute`s silence for the victims of tragedies
happened in Baku on January 20, 1990 and in Latvia in 1991.
The ambassador also informed about the book-album on the 25th
anniversary of January 20 events entitled “January 20: A bloody and
glorious page of our history”, a joint project of the Public and
Political Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential
Administration and AzerTAc.
The victims of the January 20 tragedy were also commemorated at the
Azerbaijani embassy to Turkmenistan.
Speaking at the event Ambassador Vahdat Sultanzade informed about the crimes committed by the Soviet Army against peaceful Azerbaijani on January 20, 1990.
The diplomat pointed out that the day after the tragedy happened, national leader Heydar Aliyev came to permanent representation of Azerbaijan in Moscow, and held there a press conference overtly condemning the Soviet leadership`s actions against the Azerbaijani people.
From January 19th night and continued into January 20th, 26,000 hostile and aggressive-minded Soviet special forces called "Alfa" entered Baku and committed atrocities against the Azerbaijani people. They stormed and murdered hundreds of civilians without declaring a state of emergency.
Though the final death toll is still disputed to this day, at least 130 people died from wounds received during the subsequent violent confrontations. A vast majority of the casualties were civilians, with over 700 of them wounded.
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