Today, a commemorative event dedicated to the 34th anniversary of the January 20 tragedy was held at the Institute of Chemistry of Additives of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan. First, the participants of the event honored the memory of the martyrs of January 20 and the Karabakh war with a minute of silence.
In her opening speech, the scientific secretary of the institute, Ph.D., Associate Professor Mehpara Safarova spoke about the mass murder of innocent people and disabled people in Azerbaijan in “Bloody January” of 1990: “This case was not only the most serious crime against humanity, but also a significant day that went down in the glorious and heroic history of our people. This event had a decisive influence on the formation of the national identity of Azerbaijan and became a turning point in the restoration of state independence. It was after this tragedy that the national liberation movement became a full-fledged political reality, acquired an irreversible character, and the people saw their future only in independence of Azerbaijan.”
The chairman of the Trade Union Organization of the institute, Associate Professor Elkhan Isakov, made a report on the topic “We will not forget the tragedy of January 20.” He noted that January 20 was not only a tragedy, but also the first peak on Azerbaijan’s path to independence, awakening the desire for freedom of our national ideology. The Azerbaijani people carefully preserve the memory of the martyrs of January 20. Every year, the anniversary of the tragedy is accompanied by mass visits, people lay red carnations on the graves of the martyrs of independence, who became a symbol of the tragedy, commemorate them with pride, curse their killers, express their deep hatred for those who committed this tragedy: “Innocent people from all over the layers of society – schoolchildren, students, teachers, scientists and other prominent intellectuals of our countryworld died in the bloody events. Despite the fact that 3-4 days passed after the massacre, among those killed on January 24 there were also selfless Azerbaijani chemists, scientists and professors – Ibrahim Ibrahimov, Ismail Mursagulov and Svetlana Mamedova, and other scientists Idris Akhmedov and Parlag Mamedova were seriously injured. Perhaps it is a historical coincidence that Professor Idris Akhmedov, who was a leading researcher at our institute, died 5 years ago, on January 20, 2019. Undoubtedly, his death was caused by the physical injuries he received then and, most importantly, spiritual shocks.”
Next, the leading researcher of the institute, Nusrat Aliyev talked about his memories associated with the tragedy of January 20 and read a poem he wrote.
Then photographs depicting the horrors of the massacre that occurred on the night of January 20 were shown.
