[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING ``BLACK JANUARY'' AND THE KHOJALY MASSACRE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 26, 2018

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate two tragic events 
in Azerbaijani history. 2018 marks the 28th anniversary of the ``Black 
January'' killings and the 26th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre.
  On January 19, 1990, the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet Presidium declared a 
state of emergency in response to the growing national independence 
movement in Azerbaijan, and Soviet troops moved into the Azerbaijani 
capital of Baku. They fired indiscriminately at peaceful demonstrators, 
and destroyed critical infrastructure, like medical facilities. When 
Soviet troops left the city on January 20, more than 130 people were 
dead, over 700 were injured, 841 were arrested, and five were missing. 
Human Rights Watch released a report on the incident, later named Black 
January, stated that, ``indeed the violence used by the Soviet Army on 
the night of January 19-20 constitutes an exercise in collective 
punishment. 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.''
  On February 26, 1992, Armenian troops descended on the town of 
Khojaly, located in the Nagomo-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. During 
their advance, Armenian armed forces massacred over 600 unarmed people, 
including 106 women and 83 children, and left less than 2,000 
survivors. Hundreds more became disabled due to their horrific 
injuries. More than one hundred children lost a parent and 25 children 
lost both parents. At least 8 families were completely killed. The 
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict remains unresolved.
  In spite of these tragedies, Azerbaijan has emerged as an independent 
nation with a growing economy. It is also a strong ally of the United 
States; U.S.-Azerbaijani cooperation efforts include playing a 
leadership role in nonproliferation issues; providing troops to serve 
shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. forces in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan; 
allowing transit of non-lethal equipment used by coalition forces 
through Azerbaijan to Afghanistan; construction of the Southern Gas 
Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Italy, thereby providing Europe with 
an alternative to Russian energy sources; and supplying 40 percent of 
Israel's oil. Azerbaijan also has a thriving Jewish community and is an 
ally of America's ally Israel.
  I urge my colleagues to recognize the sacrifices of the Azerbaijani 
people in their steps toward a free market economy and democracy, and 
to work together to facilitate peace in the Azerbaijan-Armenia 
conflict.

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