BAKU

Azerbaijan on Saturday commemorated the 1990 Black January, the day when 147 people were killed during a protest in Baku that also injured 744 others.

"Today, it has been 34 years since the military assault against the people of Azerbaijan and an unprecedented massacre targeting civilians by the former Soviet regime in breach of international law," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the occasion.

The Perestroika, which began in the former Soviet Union in 1985, allowed for open discussion of previously banned issues.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was a part of Azerbaijan with a large Armenian population, was the major issue of contention in relations between the former Soviet socialist republics, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Armenians began demanding that the borders be redrawn and that territory be transferred to its jurisdiction, which sparked widespread public protests in Azerbaijan.

On Jan. 13, a rally began in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, demanding the resignation of the republic's then-head, Abdurakhman Vezirov, who, according to the protesters, "failed to ensure the safety of the Azerbaijani population in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas."

On the night of Jan. 20, on the order of the Soviet leadership, the armed forces entered Baku and started suppressing the protests in which 147 people were killed and 744 others were injured.

The very next day, Azerbaijan's National Leader Heydar Aliyev informed the international community about the tragedy, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.

"(The) 20 January tragedy had a decisive impact on shaping the Azerbaijani national identity and marked a historic turning point in the restoration of independence of Azerbaijan... The sons and daughters of the motherland, who sacrificed their lives for justice on that tragic day, left a remarkable page in the heroic history of our people," the statement read.

The ministry stressed that this day became both "a day of tragedy and of national pride" for Azerbaijan.

"Regardless of the terrible atrocities committed against our people, the attempts to undermine our territorial integrity and sovereignty, and military occupation of our lands by Armenia for almost 30 years, the 44-day Patriotic War resulted in the complete restoration of our territorial integrity, while local counter-terrorism measures on 19-20 September 2023 led to the complete restoration of our sovereignty," it said.

The ministry emphasized that the 34th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy coincides with the time of complete restoration of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over Karabakh, "for which our sons and daughters sacrificed their lives."

"We remember with deep respect and gratitude the memory of our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty," it said.

Every year on Jan. 20, Azerbaijan remembers the tragic events surrounding Black January.