Black January
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black January (Azeri: Qara Yanvar), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre was a crackdown of Azeri protest demonstrations by the Soviet army in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR on January 20, 1990. In Azerbaijan, Black January is seen as the birth of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
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[edit] Events
The demonstrators demanded the ousting of Azerbaijani communist officials and called for independence from the Soviet Union. Their rhetoric was, according to a Human Rights Watch report, "heavily anti-Armenian".[1]
Beginning on January 13, 1990, a repetition of the pogroms of Sumgait was carried out in Baku against Armenians. Armenians were thrown to their deaths from the balconies of upper-story apartments. Around 90 Armenians were murdered in the pogroms. The Popular Front of Azerbaijan claimed that the pogroms were the result of "Armenian aggression." [2] The Popular Front instigated the attacks and local authorities did nothing to stop the violence. Baku's 300,000 Armenians hastily escaped. [3]
The 12,000 strong MVD internal troops and numerous Soviet army and fleet units of Baku garrison and Caspian Flotilla did not intervene to stop riots, claiming that they had no orders from Moscow authorities. On January 15, the authorities declared states of emergency in other parts of Azerbaijan (but not in Baku), and the pogrom activity began to subside. At the same time, fearing an intervention of the central Soviet authorities, Popular Front activists began a blockade of military barracks.[1] They had already taken de facto control in a number of Azerbaijani regions.[1]
Late at night on January 19, 1990, 26,000 Soviet troops stormed Baku in order to crush the Popular Front. In the course of the storming, the troops attacked the protesters, firing in the crowds. The shooting continued for three days. They acted pursuant to a state of emergency (which continued on for more than 4 months) declared by the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium, signed by President Gorbachev. The state of emergency was, however, only disclosed to the Azerbaijani public hours[1] after the beginning of the storming, when many citizens already lay wounded or dead in the streets, hospitals and morgues of Baku.
According to one report, 93 Azerbaijanis and 29 Russian soldiers were killed in the street skirmishes. [4]
[edit] State of Emergency
According to Human Rights Watch, "while the Kremlin's ostensible reason for the military action was to safeguard the Armenian population, most evidence simply does not support this contention. For example, documents of the military procurator's office in Baku examined by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki indicate that the military action was being planned even before the January 13, 1990 pogroms".[5]
The Soviet army was trying to rescue the authoritarian regime, the rule of Communist Party and Soviet Union.
Almost the whole population of Baku turned out to bury the dead on the third day - January 22. For another 40 days, the country stayed away from work in a sign of mourning and mass protest.
Then Soviet Defense Minister Dimitri Yazov stated that the use of force in Baku was intended to prevent a de facto overthrow of local government by the non-communist opposition, namely the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), to prevent their victory in the upcoming elections scheduled for March 1990, and to destroy them as a political force, ensuring that the Communist government remained in power.[citation needed]
A special session of the Supreme Council (Parliament) of Azerbaijan SSR held on January 22, 1990 at the request of public and by initiative of the group of MPs tried to initially assess the January 20 events and adopted some documents condemning the crackdown operation by Soviet army.
[edit] Black January
The 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 claimed that Gorbachev chose to use violence against "independence-seeking Azerbaijan."
[edit] Independence
On October 18, 1991, the Parliament of Azerbaijan restored country's independence. Gorbachev later apologized to Azerbaijan by stating: "The declaration of a state emergency in Baku was the biggest mistake of my political career". In 1994, the National Assembly of Azerbaijan adopted a full political and legal evaluation of the Black January events. According to the decree of the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev from December 16, 1999, all victims of crackdown were awarded an honorary title of the "Martyr of January 20" (Azerbaijani: 20 yanvar şəhidi).
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c d Human Rights Watch. “Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights”
- ^ Black Garden By Thomas De Waal
- ^ Highlanders By Yo'av Karny
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=kiBHkRtRmIIC&pg=PA195&dq=29+soldiers+Baku+January+1990+93 Remembrance and denial By Richard G. Hovannisian
- ^ Human Rights Watch. “Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights”
[edit] External links
- Black January: Baku (1990) / Azerbaijan International (Spring 1998)
- http://www.january20.net
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1477933.stm
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