Azerbaijan commemorates the victims of a Soviet massacre that saw countless citizens, including women and children, brutally killed on Jan. 20, 1990, in an event dubbed Black January that eventually led to its liberation from the USSR.

While the pain of the massacre is still fresh in the memory of all Azerbaijanis, even after 33 years, the country also hails the Black January events as a source of pride for being a significant turning point in gaining independence after 70 years of Soviet captivity.

Jan. 20 was vital in accelerating the collapse of the Soviet Union; it inflamed the sense of independence in Azerbaijanis. At the root of the events was the Karabakh problem, which remains a source of conflict between the South Caucasus neighbors.

During the late 1980s, attempts to annex Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia were gaining momentum, and more and more native Azerbaijani people were being expelled from their historical lands.

When the Armenian Supreme Council ruled to annex Karabakh from Azerbaijan, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Baku’s Freedom Square in protest, rallying against the increasing territorial demands of the Armenians and the Soviet rule.

Uninterrupted rallies were alarming for the Soviet administration, which deployed 26,000 soldiers to Baku.

Under direct instructions from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR’s State Security Committee (KGB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered Baku and its regions, massacring the civilian population, including women and children, using heavy military equipment and other weaponry.

Despite a state of emergency declared by the Soviet administration, which had total control of the city by that point, the people took to the streets once again to bury their fallen.

In a ceremony accompanied by nearly a million people, the bodies of the victims were carried on shoulders on their way to their final rest in the Martyrs’ Lane, a park where the bodies of the Azerbaijanis who lost their lives during Armenians attacks on March 31, 1918, were buried.

The Azerbaijani people lost all confidence in the USSR after the Soviet Army committed a massacre on Jan. 20, now a national day of mourning.

Every Jan. 20 for the past 33 years, Azerbaijanis have flocked with carnations and showed gratitude to those who lit the fire of independence.

Eternal love story

Notably, a couple whose story was cut short on a tragic day has become a symbol of love and devotion for the entire country.

After a Soviet bullet killed 28-year-old Ilham Allahverdiyev during the rallies, his wife of barely six months, 20-year-old Ferize Allahverdiyeva, took her own life when the pain of losing her husband became too much.

The two are buried in eternal sleep at the Martyrs’ Lane.

While the wedding date of Ilham and Ferize, June 30, is celebrated as Valentine’s Day, their story has become a legend of sorts for Azerbaijanis. Every year, countless couples travel to the martyrdom to pay their respects before their weddings.