The Seismological Center honored the memory of martyrs of January 20

On January 18, an event dedicated to the 33rd anniversary of the January 20 tragedy was held at the Republican Seismic Survey Center of ANAS. The memory of the martyrs who died for the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was honored with a minute of silence.

Stating that the memory of the victims of the January 20 tragedy will always live in the memory of our people, the General Director of the Republican Seismic Survey Center of ANAS, Corresponding Member of ANAS, Professor Gurban Yetirmishli spoke about the socio-political processes in the republic on the eve of that tragedy. Noting that on the eve of the massacres, the special services of the former Soviet Union, with the help of Armenians, carried out a number of provocations in Baku and other cities of Azerbaijan, the general director noted that the introduction of the Soviet army among the civilian population in Baku was deliberate. According to him, although the former leadership of the union tried to intimidate the people, the people of Azerbaijan have already begun their struggle for freedom.

Professor Gurban Yetirmishli said that although international law forbids shooting at ambulances and doctors going to help the wounded during the war, on January 20, Soviet troops fired on the ambulances and ran over them with a tank. The General Director noted that the tragedies that befell our people will always live in our memory.

In his speech, the head of the RSSC spoke about the forced eviction of our compatriots living in Western Azerbaijan from their homes and about the tragedies in Karabakh. Noting that our army, under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, liberated our occupied lands in 2020, the general director said that thanks to the heroism of Azerbaijani soldiers in the 44-day Patriotic War, our occupied lands regained their freedom.

Vusala Rafiggizi, head of the Information department of the RSSC, said that in the 20th century, our people suffered a lot of troubles. Speaking about the massacres committed in 1905 and 1918, the head of the department said that in 1937-38 many valuable figures of the Azerbaijani people were repressed by the leadership of the "red empire", and some of them were exiled and killed in the distant Siberian steppes. Some of them were shot for no reason and without evidence. In the war of 1941-45, the Azerbaijani people suffered a large number of victims. Soon after the war, our compatriots living in Western Azerbaijan were forcibly expelled from their ancestral lands by the hands of the former Soviet leadership. Many families were forcibly exiled to the republics of Central Asia, many died there. “The tragedy of January 20 was a kind of continuation of these events. By committing such massacres, the former leadership wanted to suppress the liberation struggle of our people and break their will,” the head of the department said, speaking of the tragedies committed after the January 20 tragedy.

 According to her, although the Soviet leadership blew up a television studio in Baku in order to create an information blockade in connection with the massacre on January 20, the news of the tragedy was brought to the whole world both by the famous Azerbaijani journalist Mirza Khazar and through SOS signals sent from our ships in the Caspian Sea. At that time, Nationwide Leader Heydar Aliyev arrived at the Azerbaijani representative office in Moscow and held a wide meeting, expressing a strong protest to the former Soviet leadership about this massacre. Therefore, the attempt of the Soviet leadership to block information about the tragedy failed.

Despite all these tragedies, Vusala Rafiggizi noted that the Azerbaijani people have achieved state independence, and the heroic Azerbaijani army under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev liberated our occupied lands, we are proud! The memory of all our martyrs who died for the freedom and defense of the Motherland is in our hearts. Our martyrs are our pride. We wish good health to the veterans and God's mercy to the martyrs," she said.

Further, the Information department showed a video clip “Our martyrs are our pride” related to the January 20 tragedy.