BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 20. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the Republic of Azerbaijan Zurab Pataradze together with heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Azerbaijan and staff of the Georgian Embassy honored the memory of the victims of the bloody tragedy committed by the Soviet armed forces in Baku on January 20, 1990, the embassy posted on its Facebook page,TurkicWorld reports.

"Heads of diplomatic missions laid flowers at the graves of Shehids (Martyrs) on the Alley of Honor who died for the Motherland. January 20 entered the modern history of the Azerbaijani people as one of the most tragic dates," the publication reads.

To note, on the night of January 19-20, 1990, as a result of military aggression of the units of the Soviet Army and special forces, as well as contingents of internal troops against Azerbaijan, civilians, including children, women and the elderly were massacred in the cities of Baku, Sumgayit, Lankaran and Neftchala by order of the USSR leadership.

As a result of the occupying forces’ military aggression, 149 civilians were killed, 744 were seriously injured, and 4 people went missing. The Soviet army was sent to the country in order to forcefully suppress the mass protests of the Azerbaijani people and the national independence movement started in response to the discrimination policy of the USSR leadership against the people of Azerbaijan, the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands in the territory of present-day Armenia, and Armenia’s unfounded territorial claims against Karabakh, committed an unprecedented massacre against the civilian population grossly violating international law and the Constitution.