Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.20 / Trend T. Hajiyev /
An event dedicated to the twenty-first anniversary of the 20 January tragedy was held upon the initiative of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Kazakhstan in the Kazakh National Archives.
The event was attended by representatives of the Kazakh public, Azerbaijan and other diasporas in the country, embassy officials, members of the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan Friendship and Culture Association and media representatives, the embassy said.
Opening the event with an introductory address, National Archives General Director Risti Sariyev highlighted the brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
Ambassador Zakir Hashimov told the participants about the 20 January tragedy and drew a parallel between events in the same period in Almaty, Tbilisi and Baku. These tragedies marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and were the result of a policy pursued by the Soviet government against the national republics, he said. He noted the historic significance of National Leader Heydar Aliyev's press conference in the Azerbaijani Permanent Representation in Moscow during the information blockade.
The event participants commemorated the tragedy victims with a moment of silence.
A video on the bloody events of January was demonstrated at the event.
In addition, the president of the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan Friendship and Culture Association, the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Kazakhstan, the head of the Kazakh Movement of December 1986, the Kazinform News Agency Presidential consultant and the head of the Ukrainian diaspora in Kazakhstan assessed these events as the beginning of the national liberation movement. Also, some diaspora members talked about the horrors of the 20 January events during their addresses.
Hashimov expressed gratitude to the National Archives for its assistance in organizing the event.
The event participants were provided with embassy press-releases about the 20 January events and editions of the Azerbaijani Turan Times diaspora newspaper, published in Kazakhstan, which widely covered the bloody events of 1990.
Other Kazakh regions such as Almaty, Kostanay, Petropavlovsk, and Aktau, as well as other cities, plan to hold activities related to the anniversary of the 20 January events. An event commemorating the tragedy victims was held by the Heydar Youth Diaspora Organization in Kostanay on Jan. 16.