İyirmi Yanvar, 20th of January

It’s probably important for you to know what was going on yesterday in Azerbaijan.  Yesterday was the commemoration of the brutal siege on Baku on January 20th, 1990.  It was probably one of the most important days in recent Azerbaijani history because of the magnitude of it’s effect on the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan’s future.  The basic synopsis is that the Russians laid siege to Baku and massacred a good deal of Azerbaijanis in the process. Many were killed, and many more were injured.  You can read about the details of the 20th of January here at the Wikipedia article.

Yesterday, in Baku, there was a huge procession that walked down the Şəhidlər Xiyabanı, Martyrs’ Lane, all day in memory of the fallen from that tragic event.  It’s one of the saddest days in recent Azerbaijan history.  One interesting note is that the commemoration is strewn with red carnations.  My understanding is that, at the time, Azerbaijan was exporting these carnations to Russia.  In response to Russia’s attack, Azerbaijanis laid all their red carnations in the street as a protest against the Russian aggression.  My facts may have to be checked on this story, but it’s still true today that lives of fallen Azerbaijanis are remembered with the red carnations.

The last thing to know is that this has a bit of history in Lənkəran, too.  Apparently a much smaller-scale attack took place in Lənkəran on the 26th of January, in which a number of people were killed.  People here in Lənkəran commemorated yesterdays attacks at their own Şəhidlər Xiyabanı, and will probably do so again in six days.