Azerbaijani Ombudswoman releases statement on 34th anniversary of January 20 tragedy

Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudswoman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva has issued a statement on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the tragedy of January 20, 1990.

The Ombudsman's Office told APA that in the statement Aliyeva called on international organisations to make a legal assessment of the brutal crime committed on January 20 against the peaceful population resulting in gross violations of human rights, to take decisive steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.

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.

On January 21, 1990, immediately after the tragic events, at the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan in Moscow, National Leader Heydar Aliyev, demonstrating his solidarity with the Azerbaijani people, strongly condemned the crime committed against the Azerbaijani people, demanded political and legal assessment of the massacre, and punishment of the perpetrators.

At the special session of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) held in February 1994 the brutal killing of innocent people on  January 20, 1990, was qualified as military aggression and a crime, and in March 1994 a decision 'On the tragic events committed in Baku on January 20, 1990' was adopted. January 20 was declared National Mourning Day.