The following article was contributed by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Seoul to the Diplomacy Journal for publication. –Ed.
January 20, 2024 marks the 34th anniversary of the military invasion and killing of civilians in the city of Baku, Azerbaijan by the forces of the Soviet Army on January 20, 1990. In response to the rising national independence movement, the Soviet leadership ordered some 26000 troops with heavy military equipment to storm the city of Baku in an operation called “Strike”.
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 13, 1990 at a mass rally held in Baku, the leaders of Azerbaijani opposition called for a referendum on secession of Azerbaijan from the Soviet Union. Reports about the killing and wounding of Azerbaijanis by Armenians in Karabakh that were spread during the rally further enraged the crowd.
The Secretary General of the Communist Party of the USSR, Michael Gorbachev used the unrest and riots in Baku to justify the Soviet Army’s intervention in the city. In reality, as it was later stated by Yazov, then the Minister of Defense of the USSR, the use of force in Baku was intended to prevent the takeover of the power in Azerbaijan by non-Communist opposition and ensure that the Communist government remained in power.
On January 19, 1990, The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, without the consent of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijani SSR, imposed a “curfew in the city of Baku” from 20 January, 00:00 a.m. Troops entered Baku without informing the local population of the curfew and its rules. Moreover, on the eve of the assault the special forces of the Soviet Army attacked the state TV building in Baku, cutting off the national TV and radio broadcast to prevent the dissemination of news to the local and international community. Therefore, the people were deprived of access to information about the entry of the Soviet troops into the city. Official information about the curfew was aired on 20 January 1990 at 05:30 a.m., i.e. after dozens citizens had already been killed or wounded in the streets of Baku.
The Soviet Army attacked the capital city of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan as if it was an enemy position that had to be taken by surprise with extreme cruelty. Irrespective of the announcement of the curfew, military offensive of a civilian city with heavy military equipment and use of violence against Azerbaijan’s civilian citizens by the troops of the Soviet Armed Forces cannot be justified under any circumstances. Incited with hatred against the local population and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, the soldiers indiscriminately fired on women, elderly and infants; even drivers of the ambulance cars and doctors were subjected to brutal killing. Tanks and armored transporters were crushing civilian and medical vehicles with people inside. Electricity of the hospitals had been cut off to prevent medical aid to the wounded.
The well-known human rights organization Human Rights Watch report on “Black January in Azerbaijan” stated, “Indeed, the violence used by the Soviet Army on the night of January 19-20 was so out of proportion to the resistance offered by Azerbaijanis as to constitute an exercise in collective punishment. Since Soviet officials have stated publicly that the purpose of the intervention of Soviet troops was to prevent the ouster of the Communist-dominated government of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the nationalist-minded, noncommunist opposition, the punishment inflicted on Baku by Soviet soldiers may have been intended as a warning to nationalists, not only in Azerbaijan, but in the other Republics of the Soviet Union”.
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 150 civilians were killed, 744 were seriously injured, and 4 people went missing. The events of 20 January were engraved in the history of Azerbaijan as “Black January”.
On January 21, 1990, immediately after the tragic events, at the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan in Moscow, National Leader of Azerbaijani people, 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 20 January 1990 was qualified as military aggression and a crime, and in March 1994 a decision “On the tragic events committed in Baku on 20 January 1990” was adopted. 20 January was declared the National Mourning Day in Azerbaijan.
Despite the fact that 34 years have passed, the events of 20 January, one of the most terrible crimes committed in the 20th century, in which all international legal documents were grossly violated, were not given an international legal assessment. The leadership of the former Soviet Union is directly responsible for this crime. According to international law, the 20 January tragedy should be qualified as a crime against humanity, and its instigators and perpetrators must be punished.
Nevertheless, 20 January 1990 was a heroic page in the history of Azerbaijani people’s struggle for freedom and independence. This violent suppression brought a 70-year Soviet rule in Azerbaijan to an end and led to the restoration of its national independence. The mentioned events had a decisive influence on the formation of the national identity of Azerbaijan and became a turning point in the restoration of the independence of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani people, who were subjected to military, political and moral aggression of the Soviet regime, showed commitment to their historical traditions of struggle.
Azerbaijani People commemorates with deep sadness the memory of the heroic martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country.
