Late at night on January 19, 1990, 26.000 Soviet troops stormed Baku. They acted pursuant to a state of emergency declared by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium, signed by President Gorbachev and disclosed to the Azerbaijani public only after many citizens lay wounded or dead in the streets, hospitals and morgues of Baku.
More than 130 people died from wounds received that night and during subsequent violent confrontations and incidents that lasted in February; the majority of these were civilians killed by Soviet soldiers. More than 700 civilians were wounded. Hundreds of people were detained, only a handful of whom were put on trial for alleged criminal offenses. Civil liberties were severely curtailed.
The behavior of Soviet armed forces in Baku must be judged in the context of their actual mission. Mikhail Gorbachev's use of force in Baku was nothing but the desperate attempt to stop dissolution of Communist ruling in Azerbaijan. The Soviet army was trying to rescue the totalitarian regime, the rule of Communist Party and Soviet empire.
Then-USSR Defense Minister Dimitri Yazov stated that the use offeree in Baku was intended to prevent the de facto takeover of the Azerbaijani government by the noncommunist opposition, to prevent their victory in upcoming free elections (scheduled for March, 1990), to destroy them as a political force, and to ensure that the Communist government remained in power.
Human Rights Watch report, entitled "Black January in Azerbaijan", states: "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."
"The subsequent events in the Baltic Republics - where, in a remarkable parallel to the events in Baku, alleged civil disorder was cited as justification for violent intervention by Soviet troops -further confirms that the Soviet Government has demonstrated that it will deal harshly with nationalist movements," continues the Human Rights Watch report.
The Wall Street Journal editorial of January 4, 1995, stated:
"It was Mr. Gorbachev's recall, who in January 1990 chose to defend his use of violence against the independence-seeking Azerbaijan on the grounds that the people of this then-Soviet republic were heavily armed gangs of hooligans and drug-traffickers who were destabilizing the country and quite possibly receiving support from foreign governments."
Gross violation of human rights and mass manslaughter in Azerbaijan caused little reaction of Western powers. Mikhail Gorbachev's regime was adamantly supported against "heavily armed gangs of hooligans and drug-traffickers."
The brutal use of force in Azerbaijan created an anti-force. It buried chances of preserving the collapsing empire and resurrected national movement for independence.
In 1991 Azerbaijan became independent.
Black January of 1990 »»
Mr. Gorbachev,
As it happens 16 years successively since 1990, on January 20 people of Azerbaijan go into mourning and commemorate the defenseless compatriots killed in result of invasion of the Soviet troops to Azerbaijan.
Events of Bloody January - 133 people of peaceful population killed, knocked down by tanks on the streets of the city, 611 wounded women and children, 200 homes ruined and burned down.
Tragedy of Bloody January is a result of your order to invade peaceful city of Baku and some regions of the Azerbaijan Republic by armed troops of the Red Army on January 19-20, 1990. This was undisguised aggression against Azeri people undertaken by leadership of CPSU, Soviet State and personally by you, Michael Gorbachev.
However, this was not the first demonstration of your anti-Azeri policy. Beginning from 1988 you were taking measures against sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Actions towards withdrawal of Daghli Garabagh from subordination to the Azerbaijan Republic started in result of our preconceived policy. Consequently, result of your efforts is slaughter of ten thousands of Azeris in Garabagh.
You were president of great state, leader of millions of people. People considered you as a stronghold of stability and justice. For the whole world your name was the synonym of democracy, reformation and glasnost in USSR. However, your activity was absolutely opposite to these remarks. You became grim descendant of totalitarian regime of you ancestors. Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia are witnesses of this. These are the first republics started their struggle for sovereignty. Now, the great state is ruined, former brother republics are isolated, families are separated, and these are significant results of your “presidency”.
You and others guilty of actions of aggression against Azeri people still are not punished by the world legal institutions. However, your names are written by blood in the history of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan does not forget heroic people who have struggled for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic. In the same way, we will never forget those who have caused events of Bloody January, which was the next step in the action called genocide against Azeri people.
No one and nothing will be forgotten…
