20/01/2022
Black January, also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown on the civilian population of Baku on 19–20 January 1990, as part of a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In January, 1990, the Armenian SSR voted to include Nagorno-Karabakh (a region within Azerbaijan) in its budget, allowing the people in the region to vote in Armenian elections.
This was seen as an attempt by Armenia to replace Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction of its own territory.
The move enraged the Azeris, which led to large demonstrations in Baku demanding separation from the Soviet Union.
On the night of January 19-20, under direct instructions from Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, military units from the USSR Ministry of Defense, State Security Committee and Ministry of Internal Affairs entered Baku and nearby regions, massacring the civilian population using heavy military equipment and other various forms of weaponry.
According to several sources between 133 and 137 civilians died with unofficial number reaching 300. Up to 800 were injured and 5 went missing.
20 January is recognized as a Day of Mourning and it is commemorated as the Day of Nationwide Sorrow.
