On January 19, Sumgayit State University held commemoration day on 29th anniversary of 20 January tragedy.

At first professor-teacher and student staff, as well as family members of alumni martyrs laid carnations in front of the monument erected for the memory of martyrs who perished for the sake of freedom and sovereignty of our country and expressed their respect to their memories.

In the ceremony which went on at Assembly hall of University, Rector Professor Elkhan Huseynov delivered speech and spoke about historical roots and reasons of this bloody tragedy. He noted: “On January 19-20, 1990 Soviet army committed a massacre to civilians in Baku. 147 Azerbaijani citizens killed, 744 injured. At that time Great leader Heydar Aliyev was the first who protested criminal acts of Soviet authority and disseminated to world community. On January 21, Heydar Aliyev went to permanent representation of Azerbaijan in Moscow, condemned the tragedy and required to judge the culprits. His statement dated January 21, 1990 was the first political assessment to the tragedy. After these processes we gained our independence and our country got sovereignty. We could confidently notify that we will restore out territorial integrity by uniting around Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and by valor of powerful army! April fights and weapons which were used there proved that Azerbaijan is not only completely ready to the war, but also is able to win it. These fights display that Azerbaijani nation and country will not agree with the occupation and will restore its territorial integrity. Our martyrs are our proud; future generations will remember them with great esteem”. Rector also emphasized that the government always cares the families of martyrs and people who disabled in these incidents.

Collaborator of Teaching Methodical Center of University – poet, dramatist Avaz Mahmud Laladagh, senior lecturer of Department of Azerbaijani and Eastern European nations’ history Samin Qojayev, III course student of Faculty of History and Geography Jeyhun Asgarov delivered speech in the event and stressed that: “20 January is not only a tragedy in Azerbaijani history, but also first peak of independence way. The purpose of Soviet aggression was to throttle struggle of Azerbaijani people for freedom. But Soviet empire could not achieve it. Our people realized their dream of freedom. The tragedy resulting with great losses and murder of innocent people demonstrated the bellicosity of our nation who had not born to treacherous policy of empire authority. Azerbaijani youth is happy that they live in a country with powerful army and decisive leader. Our martyrs and Alley of Martyrs will be the source of honor to future generations as a symbol of our independence, freedom and national volition. Young generation has an important responsibility in disseminating Azerbaijani reality to the globe”.

The event went on with literary-artistic compositions by students. The students of the Faculty of History and Geography Aliyar Rafiyev, Ibrahim Ganiyev, student of Philological faculty Gunay Mammadova, the student of the Faculty of Economics and Management Aliya Alizade performed poems dedicated to “Bloody January events”.

Poet and dramatist Avaz Mahmud Laladagh sounded his “That night” (“O gece”) poem.

Afterwards Rector met family members of our alumni who were killed in Bloody January tragedy, asked their problems and gave his assignments for solving them.

On behalf of family members of martyrs, Saadat Adiyeva the sister of Hamza Adiyev made speech and noted that our people always honor the memory of 20 January tragedy victims; its anniversary is marked in a state level with great honor and respect every year. They expressed their gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev and university administration for their care and attention.