(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, January 20. Peaceful
protestors on Azerbaijan's Lachin-Khankendi road close to Shusha
have honored the memory of the martyrs of the January 20, 1990
tragedy with a minute of silence, trend reports from the scene.
The peaceful protest of Azerbaijani non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) on the Lachin-Khankendi road against the
illicit exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area
of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on for
over a month.
Previously, following the talks with the Russian peacekeepers'
command on December 3 and 7, 2022, a group of experts from the
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Property
Service under the Ministry of Economy, and AzerGold CJSC were going
to begin preliminary monitoring of the illicit mineral resource
exploitation, as well as emerging environmental implications on
Azerbaijani lands, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily
deployed, on December 10, 2022.
The expert team was expected to inspect the environmental
condition at the 'Gizilbulagh' gold deposit and the 'Damirli'
copper-molybdenum deposit, monitor various areas, organize
cadastral property records, assess potential risks and threats to
the environment, as well as to underground and surface water
sources.
However, when arriving in the monitoring area, the expert group,
accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, faced provocations. The
planned initial inspection and monitoring did not take place due to
the fact that the Russian peacekeepers not only did not create
necessary conditions but also prevented for the entire process to
carry on.
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 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 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.
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