DAYS OF SORROW
AZERI-AMERICANS REMEMBER BLACK JANUARY OF 1990
Twenty years ago, on the night of January 19-20, 1990, 26,000 regular and special troops of the Soviet Army stormed Baku, the capital of then-union republic of Azerbaijan, to suppress a popular rally against the failing communist regime. The full-scale invasion of the city by heavy armored vehicles, military helicopters and navy was carried under the directive signed by Mikhail Gorbachev. Then-Soviet Minister of Defense, Dmitry Yazov, and then-head of the Soviet KGB, Vladimir Kryuchkov, personally commanded the operation while being inside Baku.
According to official counts, 147 unarmed civilians were killed during January 20-22, 1990 in Baku alone; unofficial counts range between 300 and 500. Soviet bullets did not distinguish women from children, elderly from doctors, an Azeri from a Russian, a Muslim from a Jew, all of them and more were the victims. Along with similar purges in Georgia (1989) and Lithuania (1991), the bloody Soviet action in Azerbaijan was a desperate attempt to prevent the looming end of Soviet Empire. But the Black January 1990 only reinforced the drive by Azerbaijanis for freedom and independence. In less than two years, on October 18, 1991, Parliament of Azerbaijan adopted the Constitutional Act restoring the independence of Azerbaijan after 71 years of Soviet power, and, a couple of months later, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
Today, Azerbaijan is an independent developing country in the volatile region of South Caucasus. This secular Muslim nation is blessed with wealth of natural resources, rich cultural heritage, centuries-old history of tolerance and inter-confessional coexistence. While challenges in development exist, among them resolving the conflict with neighboring Armenia over the occupied Mountainous Karabakh region, independent Azerbaijan is still an achievement of those who sacrificed their lives on the cold winter night 20 years ago.
The board directors of Azerbaijani-American Council (AAC) join all Azeri-Americans to honor the memory of victims of Black January 1990.