19.01.2021

It was 31 years after the tragedy of January 20, which is a sorrowful and at the same time valiant page of the new history of Azerbaijan. This year, as every year, the Constitutional Court paid tribute to the Shekhids on January 20.

Chairman Farhad Abdullayev and in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic a limited number of staff members of Constitutional Court, visited the Shehid Alley and paid tribute to the victims of the tragedy of January 20.

Then a memorial ceremony was held in the Constitutional Court building.

The Chairman of Constitutional Court, Judges and staff of the Office, attended the ceremony.

At first, the memory of the victims of the tragedy was honored with a minute of silence.

The Chairman of Constitutional Court, who spoke at the event, assessed the tragedy on January 20 as an important turning point in the history of independent Azerbaijan, which embarked on the path of independence.

It was stated that the bloody January tragedy was the next stage of the scenarios of reprisal of Armenians against Azerbaijanis committed with the blessing and help of the leadership of the Soviet empire. Farhad Abdullayev noted that these events were an attempt by the leadership of the USSR to violate the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, thereby intimidating civilians who took to the streets in protest against the biased and unjust policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh, the position of the local leadership that was contrary to the interests of our people.

It was also noted that the tragic events of January 20, 1990 in Baku and the previous history of Azerbaijan were another manifestation of the deliberate policy pursued against our people throughout the twentieth century. The events in Nagorno-Karabakh, which began under the auspices of the Soviet leadership, the genocide against the Azerbaijani people and the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from their ancestral lands in Armenia are stages of this policy.

This landmark event had a decisive influence on the formation of Azerbaijan's national identity and was a turning point in the restoration of state independence. It was after this tragedy that the national liberation movement, having become even more active, became irreversible, that the people saw their future only in Azerbaijan's independence.

Speaking about the essence of the bloody January events, Farhad Abdullayev noted that the invasion of the Soviet Armed Forces in Baku and other regions of the country on January 20, 1990, as a result of which unarmed people who took to the streets in defense of justice were brutally killed, was committed by a totalitarian communist regime and considered as military aggression and crime.

No matter how tragic the January 1990 massacre was in our modern history, it has not broken the will of the Azerbaijani people and their determination to fight for national liberation.

It was emphasized that the national leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, who did not abandon his people at this difficult time, visited the Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan in Moscow on January 21 and issued a historical statement condemning the terrorist act. Despite the danger to his life and the life of his family, the great leader showed great courage in the political and legal assessment of the tragedy on January 20, saying that this crime, committed through the fault and betrayal of the leaders of the USSR and the republic, is contrary to law, democracy and humanism.

It was noted that since the return of the national leader to political power in 1993, important steps have been taken to investigate the causes of the tragedy on January 20 and bring the perpetrators to justice. It was on the initiative of the great leader Heydar Aliyev that the tragedy on January 20 received a political and legal assessment at the state level, and in March 1994 Milli Majlis decided on this issue. According to this legal document, the events of January 20 were assessed as military aggression and a crime against the Azerbaijani people.

Stressing that the great leader embraced the state concern of the Shekhid families and the disabled persons, the Chairman said that the President Ilham Aliyev, who successfully continues his political course, set the solution of the problems of Shekhid families and people who have lost health as important tasks at the state level. By order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the families of Shekhid of January 20 were awarded a presidential scholarship, and our State provides them with constant assistance. To perpetuate the memory of the Shekhids, many memorial complexes have been created in our country.

The Chairman noted that 2020 will always occupy a special place in the memory of our people and in the history of our state, as the Great Victory of our Valiant Army under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev. On our liberated lands, the legal force of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, created by the great leader Heydar Aliyev and celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2020, has been restored.

The heroic rebuff of the enemy's aggression by the Azerbaijani army and the crushing blow to the invaders through a counterattack were a demonstration of the determination of our people to win. As a result of successful military operations conducted under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, our Valiant Army liberated our lands from the Armenian invaders during the 44-day Patriotic War. The military success of the Azerbaijani army determined the outcome of the war, and the Patriotic War ended with the complete victory of Azerbaijan. On November 10, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev signed a historic statement confirming the victory.

At the conclusion of the commemorative ceremony, it was noted that the tragedy of January 20 will never be erased from our memory, will forever remain in the history of mankind as one of the most terrible and bloody crimes against humanity.