Canadian MP honors memory of Black January victims
Barry Devolin, a member of the Canadian Parliament and head of
the Canada-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group, has
made a statement on Black January tragedy in Azerbaijan, according
to the Azerbaijani Embassy.
The statement says: “A couple of months ago we marked the 25th
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a great day that opened
the door to democracy and human rights across Europe and
beyond.
Today we mark a monumental anniversary of a different kind, the
70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwits-Birkenau, a word
synonymous with the absolute worst of human behavior.
“Last week, the people of Azerbaijan marked a 25th anniversary of
their own. Unfortunately, this was also for a terrible tragedy, one
that came at the end of the Cold War. On January 19, 1990, in
response to peaceful demonstrations in Baku calling for Azerbaijani
independence, Soviet leaders sent in tanks and troops to viciously
quell those gatherings. When the smoke cleared, 140 civilians had
been killed and more than 700 more had been wounded. At the time,
Human Rights Watch reported that “the violence used by the Soviet
Army was so out of proportion to the resistance offered by
Azerbaijanis as to constitute an exercise in collective
punishment.”
“As chair of the Canada-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship
Group, I have twice laid flowers for victims at the Martyrs’ Alley
memorial in Baku and heard first-hand accounts from Azerbaijani
friends who were there that night. This month, Canadians join with
Azerbaijanis to remember who died and recognize that, in the end,
their sacrifices ultimately hastened the end of the Soviet Union
and the Cold War. May they rest in peace.”
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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