Question: On January 20 Azerbaijan commemorated what they call Black January, marking it as the anniversary of the events of 1990 when the Russian armed forces entered the country and murdered innocent civilians, ostensibly because this was Azerbaijan s move towards a break from the Soviet Union. What does Armenia say?

Answer: Armenians also remember that Black January in 1990 when the Soviet forces came to Baku, but not to suppress a freedom movement but to rescue the Armenian community living in Baku, who, for several days already, were subject to pogroms.

In fact, the Soviet forces arrived too late and when they finally clashed with the perpetrators, the crime had already been committed..

As a consequence of those events, some two hundred thousand Armenians who used to live in Baku had to flee the city.  Azerbaijan wishes to present the clashes in another context, but the cause should not be forgotten.