Presidential couple pays tribute to Black January martyrs

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva visited the Alley of Martyrs on January 20, the Day of National Mourning, to pay tribute to the victims of the bloody January 1990 tragedy.

The president laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame memorial.

The National Anthem of Azerbaijan was also performed by a military orchestra of Azerbaijan’s defense ministry.

State and government officials, leaders of religious communities, ambassadors of foreign countries and representatives of international organizations functioning in Azerbaijan also attended the commemoration ceremony.

Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov and Head of the President’s Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev also took part in the ceremony.

Hundreds of civilians were crushed or injured by the Soviet troops in Baku on January 20, 1990, on an order from the USSR leadership that was trying to maintain the Communist regime in Azerbaijan and strangle the national liberation movement.

The invasion was launched at midnight and was committed with brutality; even children, women and the elderly were not spared.

As a result of the intrusion of troops into Baku and regions of the country, 133 people were killed, more than 700 wounded, and about 800 illegally arrested.

/By Trend/