Victims of Black January commemorated abroad

The event to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Black January tragedy was organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy in the country. The event was attended by the members of the Azerbaijani Diaspora and students studying in China.

The event started with a minute of silence to commemorate Azerbaijani heroes who gave their lives for the country`s independence and territorial integrity. Ambassador Latif Gandilov made remarks at the commemorate ceremony.

Gandilov briefed the participants on the history of the tragedy; Azerbaijani people`s struggle for independence and freedom, reason and results of the tragedy condemning the Soviet leadership`s actions against the Azerbaijani people.

Speaker noted that thanks to national leader Heydar Aliyev the tragedy was given a political and legal assessment.

The diplomat pointed out the day after the tragedy happened, national leader Heydar Aliyev came to permanent representation of Azerbaijan in Moscow, and held there a press conference overtly condemning the Soviet leadership`s actions against the Azerbaijani people.

Participants of the event watched a documentary on the Bloody January.

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The embassy of Azerbaijan organized here at the Seimas a meeting "Baku-Vilnius: January events on the way of freedom" dealing with January tragedies, which took place in Baku and Vilnius.

The event gathered vice-speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas, MPs, politicians, members of the government, representatives of the embassy, Azerbaijani Diaspora, Azerbaijani students.
The participants of the event got acquainted with the photo exhibition devoted to the 20 January massacre.

Speaking at the event, chairman of the Lithuanian Azerbaijanis Society Mahir Hamzayev said Azerbaijani and Lithuanian peoples bow their heads to pay tribute to those who laid down their lives for the independence of their homeland.

After taking the floor, Azerbaijani ambassador Hasan Mammadzade pointed out that 20 January tragedy is one of the black pages of the country`s history.

The ambassador pointed out that these events were political and legally judged only after national leader Heydar Aliyev`s returning to power. A documentary 20 January-1990 was shown at the event.

Also speaking at the event was member of the European parliament, honorary doctor of the Public Administration Academy of Azerbaijan Vitautas Landsbergis who noted that by committing terror in Baku, Tbilisi, Vilnius, the leadership of the USSR decided to resort to the most anti-humanity means to preserve the empire.

He proposed to publish the shared album on January events in Baku and Lithuania with documents, lists of victims, orders of military aggressors.

Flowers were laid at the graves of protectors of independence on behalf of event participants.


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 The Azerbaijani Embassy in the United States (US) held a commemorative event to mark the 23rd anniversary of the 20 January tragedy.

The ceremony started with a minute of silence for victims of the January tragedy. Ambassador to US Elin Suleymanov informed about the historical roots of this bloody tragedy.

He said the 20 January 1990 is a day, which went down in the history as the struggle for the freedom and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and as a heroism page.

The diplomat pointed out the day after the tragedy happened, national leader Heydar Aliyev came to permanent representation of Azerbaijan in Moscow, and held there a press conference overtly condemning the Soviet leadership`s actions against the Azerbaijani people. He also noted that thanks to national leader Heydar Aliyev, the tragedy was given a political and legal assessment.

Activists of the Azerbaijani Diaspora Habib Azersinan and Gadir Shiraliyev provided information on the Black January.

Photos on the 20 January tragedy were demonstrated in the event.


/AzerTAc/