Türkiye commemorates Azerbaijani martyrs with respect and reverence

Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry has shared a post on its X account regarding the 35th anniversary of the 20 January tragedy.

The post says: "We commemorate with respect and reverence the memory of the heroes of the brotherly Azerbaijan who died for the country’s independence on January 20, 1990," News.Az reports.

20 Ocak 1990'da bağımsızlık uğruna şehit düşen Kardeş Azerbaycan'ın kahramanlarını saygı ve rahmetle anıyoruz. pic.twitter.com/hDJu2YbHLM

— T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı (@TC_Disisleri) January 20, 2025

Thirty-five years have passed since the events of January 20, 1990, which are went into history as the tragedy of 'Black January.'

On the night of January 19–20, 1990, under the direct orders of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, troops of the Ministry of Defense, the State Security Committee, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR entered Baku and several districts of Azerbaijan. Mass killings were carried out by firing from heavy equipment and various types of weapons. The occupation of Baku by special forces of the Soviet army and a large contingent of internal troops was accompanied by special cruelty and unprecedented brutality. Until the state of emergency was announced to the population, military personnel mercilessly killed 82 people and fatally wounded 20. After the declaration of a state of emergency, 21 people were killed in Baku within a few days. Eight more people were killed in districts and cities where the state of emergency was not declared—on January 25 in Neftchala and on January 26 in Lankaran.

Thus, 147 people were killed and 744 injured in Baku and its surrounding regions due to the illegal actions of the troops.

Among the dead were women, children, and the elderly, as well as emergency workers and militiamen. The illegal deployment of troops was also accompanied by mass arrests of civilians. During the operations, 841 people were illegally arrested in the capital Baku and other cities and districts of the republic, and 112 of them were sent to prisons in various cities of the USSR. Military personnel fired at 200 houses, 80 cars, including ambulances, and a large amount of state and private property was destroyed as a result of fires caused by incendiary bullets.

News.Az