Black January (1990)

From 1988 a mass national movement grew in Azerbaijan in response to the events around Nagorno-Karabakh, with people taking to the squares to demand national rights and independence.

On the night of 19–20 January 1990 Soviet army units entered Baku before a state of emergency had been announced and opened fire on civilians. More than a hundred people were killed and hundreds wounded.

The tragedy did not break the people's will for independence but strengthened it. The victims are buried in the Alley of Martyrs in Baku, and 20 January is marked every year as the Day of National Mourning.