29 years pass since the tragedy of January 20, 1990, which entered the history of Azerbaijan as "Bloody January".
This phenomenon, which is the next manifestation of the policy pursued against our people over the twentieth century, can be regarded as the continuation of the Nagorno-Karabakh events initiated under the auspices of the Soviet leadership and the genocide against the Azerbaijani people and the eviction of the Azerbaijanis from the ancient lands of Armenia.
What were the historical reasons for the January 20 tragedy and its significance for the independence of Azerbaijan?
"January 20 tragedy must be regarded as a military aggression of the Soviet military machine against the Azerbaijani people. This is one of the worst crimes committed against humanity. The killing and injury of hundreds of innocent people as a result of armed aggression to the civilian population struggling for the sake of national sovereignty and territorial integrity demonstrated its criminal nature to the whole world on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet empire."
President of the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) Umud Rahimoglu said this in an interview to Eurasia Diary. In his opinion, it would be wrong to analyze the events taking place in Baku on January 20, 1990 separately from the Armenian aggression against our country: "In the Soviet era, a purposeful propaganda campaign against Azerbaijan was carried out undertaking by the center and, as a result, negative public opinion was formed. Armenian ideologists and their advocates explicitly falsified facts about Azerbaijan's history, socio-economic development, and spread throughout the alliance. The use of specially trained units of the Soviet army against the nation protesting the aggressive policy of Armenia and the leadership of the former Soviet Union led to bloody tragedy on 20 January 1990. "
The IEPF president recalls that experts from the "Shield" human rights organization in Russia have revealed the horrifying details of this bloody incident in Baku: "Their opinion was also widely disseminated in the press. These opinions indicate that people on the streets of Baku were murdered with special cruelty and the nearest distance, hospitals, ambulances were fired and doctors were killed. One of the most terrifying details was that some of the men were killed with a bayonet. Kalashnikov's 5.45 mm bullet which changes gravity center was used during the tragedic night. These all the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 and the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Helsinki Final The Act, Final Declaration of the Vienna Meeting of 1989 (the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict), the existing treaties regulating the conduct of military operations, mainly relate to the use of light rotating and propagating bullets during the 1980 war all international human rights treaties, including the Declaration of Non-Proliferation (the Fourth Hague Treaty on Land Rule and Laws of 1967), were grossly violated. "
Umud Rahimoglu said that after Heydar Aliyev's return in 1993, the ideas of independent statehood in Azerbaijan were reinforced and a full political and legal assessment of the bloody January tragedy of 1990 was given.
IEPF President noted that the events of 20 January were the end of Soviet rule in Azerbaijan: "Azerbaijan restored its independence. Every year, on January 20, we commemorate our citizens who died for independence. I think that regardless of where they live, every Azerbaijani should know that remembering this tragedy and commemorating the memory of our martyrs is a sacred duty."
