Baku is hosting events dedicated to the tragedy of January 20, 1990. The tragedy of "Black January" in Baku was a result of the ill-considered decisions of the Soviet regime. In the era of perestroika the events of "Black January" unfolded against the background of the Karabakh conflict. The administration of Azerbaijan, headed by Abdurahman Vezirov and other members of the Central Government and Azerbaijani communist Party, practically turned away from the problems that accumulated in the republic. On January 11th 1990, the ultra-radical Popular Front organized a mass rally in Baku to protest against the inaction of the government. The situation escalated to the point when tanks and army troops with heavy weaponry were introduced to Baku according to the decision of the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev. As a result of this order, many Azerbaijani civilians were injured.
The seizure of Baku was carried out under the command of Soviet Defense Minister Yazov, with the help of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and KGB, as well as regular units of the Soviet Army and navy equipped with heavy military vehicles, helicopters and warships. Enormous military atrocities took place in the suburbs, where the population was composed exclusively of Azerbaijanis, and where pogroms which allegedly became one of the reasons for the invasion were not possible. A lot of people died not only from shooting in the streets, but also hit by stray bullets in their homes.
Even before the government officially introduced the state of emergency in Baku, over 150 people had been killed and 20 people fatally wounded. That means that the state of emergency was introduced already after the troops had entered the city, which points to the unlawfulness of the actions of the Soviet government. The belated promulgation of the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "On the state of emergency in Baku" was in direct violation of the fourteenth paragraph of the 119th Article of the Constitution of the Soviet Union and the 71th Article of the Constitution of the Azerbaijani SSR.
After the declaration of emergency on January 20 more than 20 people were killed. After people learned about the intentions of the military authorities to carry away the dead bodies of killed civilians on warships, 50 civilian ships, including oil tankers, blocked the Bay of Baku. They were systematically shelled by warships.
As a result of the unlawful entry of troops into Baku and other regions of the country, 250 people were killed and 744 wounded, 176 of them remained disabled, 841 people were illegally arrested and four people went missing. Among the dead were women, children and elderly people, as well as employees of the ambulance services and police forces, representatives of different nationalities – Azerbaijanis, Jews, Russians, Lezgins and Tatars.
On January 20, Moscow-based Azerbaijanis held a protest in front of the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan. They marched with black flags down the streets of Moscow to the Central Committee of the CPSU in protest. The former leader of Azerbaijan, a member of the Politburo, deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, at that time already retired, Heydar Aliyev, held a press conference in the permanent representative office of Azerbaijan in Moscow, where he protested and condemned the inhuman actions of the Soviet troops in Azerbaijan. On January 22, a million and a half Azerbaijanis marched under the muzzles of guns, installed on the roofs of buildings, down the streets of Baku to commemorate the victims of aggression. Late in the evening on January 22, the Supreme Soviet of the republic proclaimed the invasion of Soviet forces an aggression.
... Nowadays there is an Alley of Martyrs in the Upland Park in Baku. Here are the graves of people who fought for the independence of their state. January 20 is being celebrated as the Day of National Mourning in Azerbaijan. On this day thousands of people visit the Alley of Martyrs and pay their tributes to the victims of the tragedy. Today all around the world people mourn the victims of the terrible tragedy of "Black January".
Elvira Taverdiyeva, exclusively for VK
