36 years have passed since the January 20 tragedy in Baku

It has been 36 years since the tragic events that occurred on January 20 in Baku.

In Azerbaijan, this day is declared as the Day of National Mourning.

On the night of January 19-20, 1990, by order of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev, military units of the Ministry of Defense, the Committee for State Security, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR were deployed to Baku and several regions of Azerbaijan, brutally shooting civilians from heavy machinery and various types of weapons.

The seizure of Baku by special forces units and a large contingent of internal troops of the Soviet army was accompanied by unprecedented cruelty. Before the announcement of the state of emergency, military personnel mercilessly killed 82 and fatally wounded 20 civilians.

During the several days after the declaration of the state of emergency in Baku, 21 people were killed, and another 8 were killed in districts and cities where no state of emergency was declared, namely in Neftchala and Lankaran.

As a result of those tragic events, 150 people became martyrs, 744 were wounded, and 841 were illegally arrested.

The January tragedy of 1990 was preceded by the mass deportation of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands in Armenia and attempts to annex Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia since 1987.

Instead of preventing the escalation of tension, the Soviet leadership committed a monstrous crime against the Azerbaijani people.

On March 29, 1994, on the initiative of national leader Heydar Aliyev, the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan adopted a special resolution in connection with the January 20 tragedy.

Representatives of the Azerbaijani government, foreign diplomats, and ordinary citizens traditionally visit the Alley of Martyrs on this day and honor the memory of the victims of the "Black January" tragedy buried here.

Azerbaijan's diplomatic missions and Azerbaijani communities in foreign countries also hold events dedicated to this event to draw the attention of the world community to this tragic page in the country's history.

On January 20 at 12:00 Baku time, throughout the republic, a minute of silence will honor the memory of the martyrs accompanied by the sounds of horns and signals from cars, trains, and ships. As a sign of mourning, the state flags of Azerbaijan will also be lowered.