Baku: Thirty-six years have passed since the tragedy that occurred in Azerbaijan on January 20, 1990, APA reports. On the night of January 19-20, 1990, military units of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the State Security Committee, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were deployed to Baku and several regions of Azerbaijan, by order of Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The military fired upon peaceful civilians with heavy military equipment and various types of weapons, resulting in mass killings.
According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the occupation of Baku by large contingents of Soviet special forces and internal troops was marked by extreme brutality. Before a state of emergency was declared, 82 people were killed and 20 others fatally wounded. In the subsequent days, 21 more people were killed in Baku. In areas where a state of emergency was not declared, eight more individuals lost their lives-on January 25 in Neftchala and on January 26 in Lankaran.
The unlawful deployment resulted in 131 deaths and 744 injuries in Baku and surrounding areas, affecting women, children, the elderly, ambulance workers, and police officers. Mass arrests followed, with 841 civilians detained, 112 of whom were sent to prisons across the USSR. Military actions also targeted 200 houses and 80 vehicles, including ambulances, causing significant destruction.
The victims of January 1990 are symbolically referred to as the ‘January 20 martyrs,’ totaling 150 individuals. On January 21, 1990, National Leader Heydar Aliyev protested the USSR’s actions from Azerbaijan’s permanent mission in Moscow. Despite the Soviet army’s brutality, nearly two million people participated in a mourning procession on January 22 in Baku, demanding the lifting of the state of emergency.
On March 29, 1994, at the initiative of Heydar Aliyev, the Milli Majlis provided a legal and political assessment of the tragedy. January 20 is now commemorated annually as a National Day of Mourning in Azerbaijan. Traffic restrictions are implemented to ensure safety during the commemorations at Martyrs’ Alley, and a one-minute silence is observed nationwide at 12:00 Baku time, with horns sounding across the country.
Azerbaijan’s embassies and communities abroad also organize events to highlight the Bloody January tragedy to the international community.