Azerbaijan society of America commemorates “Black January” and remembers the heroes who gave their lives for Azerbaijan’s independence

On January 20, 1990, the Soviet troops attacked Baku and ruthlessly killed 140 innocent civilians. This was done to suppress a growing independence movement in Azerbaijan.

Peaceful demonstrations had been taking place in Baku for several weeks, protesting Soviet control of Azerbaijan and the arbitrary decisions dictated by Moscow to the local communist officials.

The sleeping city was attacked from different directions by heavy armored vehicles, military helicopters and navy under the orders from Mikhail Gorbachev.

Every human body in the street, every face in the window, every moving car in this peaceful city became the target of the entering troops. The shock came in the morning when the first passers found scores of corpses in the streets: Azeris, Russians, Tatars, Lezgins, and Jews.

Bullets spared no women, children and elderly people. A blind man stabbed with a gun bayonet, a little girl shot in the hands of her father, a newly married young couple, an eighty-year old woman who looked curiously from the window to check where the strange and unfamiliar sounds were coming from were all targeted.

All this was done because the brave people of Azerbaijan, who held freedom above everything, chose the path to independence. This tragedy strengthened people of Azerbaijan's determination for freedom.

Year and a half later, Azerbaijan became one of the first among the Soviet states to adopt constitutional act on Independence on October 18, 1991. In April 1993 they also ultimately succeeded in driving the Soviet troops, the embodiment of the oppression and brutality, from its soil.

The Azerbaijan Society of America calls upon the international community to join the commemoration of the "Black January". The world must remember human lives were the heavy price paid by the people of Azerbaijan for today's Independence.

Azerbaijan Society of America is the oldest and leading nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing knowledge about the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani people, their culture and history.