[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 581-582]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      BLACK JANUARY IN AZERBAIJAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DANIEL B. MAFFEI

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 23, 2013

  Mr. MAFFEI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 23rd anniversary 
of the events that marked the beginning of the end of Soviet

[[Page 582]]

rule over our ally Azerbaijan, an occupation that existed for much of 
the 20th Century.
  This time period is referred to in Azerbaijan as ``Black January,'' 
when violence erupted in Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku on January 
19th and 20th, 1990. During the conflict, Soviet troops killed over 100 
nationalist demonstrators and wounded another 700 Azeri citizens 
demanding freedom. Azerbaijan eventually declared its independence from 
the U.S.S.R. on October 18, 1991.
  I ask the House of Representatives to join me in commemorating--with 
our ally, Azerbaijan--the events of Black January in 1990, events which 
began in tragedy but culminated in the birth of an independent nation 
and ally of the United States.

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