BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 20. The Embassy of the US in Azerbaijan expressed its condolences in connection with the January 20 events, Trend reports via the embassy's Twitter publication.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the friends and family that lost their loved ones during the violent crackdown, and remember the sacrifices made by those peacefully making a stand in support of their beliefs," the statement said.
Today, in connection with the 33rd anniversary of the January 20 tragedy, a delegation of the US State Department headed by Mark Cameron, Director of the Office for Caucasian Affairs and Regional Conflicts of the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs of the US Department of State, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan, visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku.
On the night of January 19-20, 1990, as a result of military aggression of the units of the Soviet Army and special forces, as well as contingents of internal troops against Azerbaijan, civilians, including children, women and the elderly were massacred in the cities of Baku, Sumgayit, Lankaran and Neftchala by order of the USSR leadership.
As a result of the occupying forces’ military aggression 149 civilians were killed, 744 were seriously injured, and 4 people went missing. The Soviet army was sent to the country in order to forcefully suppress the mass protests of the Azerbaijani people and the national independence movement started in response to the discrimination policy of the USSR leadership against the people of Azerbaijan, the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands in the territory of present-day Armenia, and Armenia’s unfounded territorial claims against Karabakh, committed an unprecedented massacre against the civilian population grossly violating international law and the Constitution.