A plan of activities on the nineteenth anniversary of January 20 tragedy (Black January Day) has been approved by a presidential order. The plan sets out a number of planned activities to be held across the country and highlighting them in local and foreign televisions. According to the plan, the families of the victims will be provided with humanitarian aid.

Black January (Azeri: Qara Yanvar), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre was a crackdown of Azeri civil protest demonstrations by the Soviet army in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR on January 20, 1990. In Azerbaijan, Black January is seen as the birth of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The 12,000 strong MVD internal troops and numerous Soviet army and fleet units of Baku garrison and Caspian Flotilla did not intervene to stop riots, claiming that they had no orders from Moscow authorities. One week later, late at night on January 19, 1990, 26,000 Soviet troops stormed Baku. The Soviet troops attacked the protesters firing in the crowds. The shooting continued for three days. They acted pursuant to a state of emergency (which continued on for more than 4 months) declared by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium, signed by President Gorbachev and disclosed to the Azerbaijani public only after many citizens lay wounded or dead in the streets, hospitals and morgues of Baku. According to the official Moscow, the soldiers were sent into Baku "to prevent the violent overthrow of the local authorities and a fresh outbreak of violence against ethnic minorities in the city".

According to official figures, 137 people died from wounds received that night and during subsequent violent confrontations and incidents that lasted in February (unofficial sources put this figure as over 300); the majority of these were civilians killed by Soviet soldiers. More than 700 civilians were wounded. Hundreds of people were detained, only a handful of whom were put on trial for alleged criminal offenses.

In 1991 Azerbaijan became independent. Three years later, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan gave the events a full political and legal evaluation for the first time. With the Decrees of the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev of December 16, 1999 all the victims of the crackdown were awarded the title "Martyrs of January 20." 

/ANS TV/ 

© 2008-2009 All rights reserved. Citing to ANS PRESS is necessary upon using news.