TODAY.AZ / Politics

MP: Genocide committed against Azerbaijanis on January 20

20 January 2017 [12:49] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Amina Nazarli

Events of the January 20, 1990 in Baku are a crime against all humanity, said MP Rovshan Rzayev talking about the 27th anniversary of the Black January tragedy.

Rzayev noted that for him personally this bloody date, first of all is the day to honor memory of martyrs, who sacrificed their lives for independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

“It was genocide against our people. Unarmed peaceful citizens, who were face to face with armored vehicles and heavily armed soldiers, were killed with a particular brutality. UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles of international law were violated. Regretfully, the January tragedy, which claimed hundreds of lives and has become one of the bloodiest pages in the history of the twentieth century, still has not received appropriate international legal assessment, and its organizers and perpetrators have not been punished,” he said.

Rzayev attributed this to the double standards that Azerbaijan has faced since independence.

The international community should be aware of all the realities, according to Rzayev, and not only January 20 tragedy, but also other violent events, which, unfortunately, have occurred in the modern history of Azerbaijan.

“There are a sufficient number of legal instruments that will classify the events of January 20 as a crime against humanity. The truth is that there are serious grounds for criminal prosecution of servicemen, who have committed all these atrocities and the leaders of the Soviet state of that period. Therefore, international organizations and the international community should support the reasonable demands of Azerbaijan  and give international legal assessment,” the MP said.

The 20th of January, 1990 is marked in the modern history of Azerbaijan as one of the most tragic days of the country, and at the same time as a heroic page.

Late at night on January 20, 1990, some 26,000 Soviet special forces called "Alfa" entered Baku without declaring a state of emergency and committed atrocities against the innocent Azerbaijani people. The invasion was launched at midnight and was committed with brutality; even children, women and the elderly were not spared.

In total, some 133 people were killed, 611 wounded, 841 illegally arrested and five went missing as a result of the intrusion of troops into Baku and other regions of the republic.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/157894.html

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