[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 12 (Monday, January 26, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COMMEMORATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK JANUARY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 26, 2015

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, one of the seminal events in 20th century 
was the demise of the Soviet Union, which altered the balance of power 
in the world, most profoundly in Europe and Central Asia. But the event 
that sparked the tinderbox of democratic uprisings through the sphere 
of Soviet satellites began in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
   Azerbaijanis remember the night that democratic fire was sparked; it 
was January 20, 1990. The Azeris called it ``Black January.'' At 
midnight on that fateful night, 26,000 armed Russian troops stormed 
into Baku with tanks.
   The weeks and months prior to Black January had seen a surge in the 
national independence movement. Hundreds of thousands of Azeris pushed 
then USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost policy by publicly 
marching for independence and territorial integrity.
   Some of the emerging democratic groups were projected to win seats 
in the upcoming Parliamentary elections. Since only Communists could 
hold government office in a Soviet satellite, Gorbachev moved quickly 
to put down the independence movement.
   Gorbachev declared a state of emergency to repress a growing 
independence movement. The Soviet heavyhandedness served only to 
elevate Azeri resolve and passion. Soviet troops, under orders to 
``restore order,'' tried dispersing the throngs of peaceful Azeri 
demonstrators by firing arbitrarily into the crowds on the Baku 
streets, killing women and children who were among the protesters 
calling for independence from the Soviet Union.
   Over 130 Azeris were killed in the violence of Black January; 611 
were injured, nearly 1,000 were arrested, and five were never found.
   Human Rights Watch's report ``Black January in Azerbaijan,'' said 
that, ``among the most heinous violations of human rights during the 
Baku incursion were the numerous attacks on medical personnel, 
ambulances and even hospitals.'' Human Rights Watch concluded, ``The 
punishment inflicted on Baku by Soviet soldiers may have been intended 
as a warning to nationalists, not only in Azerbaijan, but in other 
Republics of the Soviet Union.''
   The standoff between nationalists in Azerbaijan and the Soviet 
leaders in Moscow escalated into an Azeri threat to hold a referendum 
on secession unless Soviet troops withdrew in 48 hours. Soviet troops 
were hampered when Azerbaijani oil tankers blockaded the Baku harbor, 
keeping Soviet naval vessels at bay.
   Soviet forces withdrew, but formal independence would come nearly 
two years later.
   On this day, Azeri patriots stood up for their freedom, sealing the 
fate of the Soviet empire and forever changing the history of the 
world.
   I ask my colleagues to join me in standing with the people of 
Azerbaijan today in solitude and gratitude for their passion for 
independence and remembrance of the lives lost on Black January.

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