BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 20. The totalitarian regime was unable to break the will and spirit of the Azerbaijani people on January 20, said Ambassador of Ukraine to Azerbaijan Vladislav Kanevsky on his Facebook page, Trend reports.
According to him, it was on the night of January 19-20, 1990, that the totalitarian Soviet regime gave the military units of the Soviet Army a criminal order to enter Baku and kill the peaceful population of Azerbaijan, who fought for the independence and sovereignty of their state.
"During that terrible night, 149 civilians were killed, 744 were heavily injured and 400 were illegally arrested. However, the totalitarian regime was unable to break the will and spirit of Azerbaijanis," said the ambassador.
He also noted that soon, the events of Black January gave impetus to the strengthening of independence movements in other republics of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, giving the long-awaited freedom to the peoples of these countries.
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 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 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.