A planned and ruthless military intervention was carried out against the Azerbaijani people on the night of January 19-20, 1990, and in the following days. This bloody crime committed against the civilian population was aimed at suppressing the will of our people for freedom. The memory of the martyrs of January 20 was commemorated with respect at Sumgayit State University (SSU). A series of events held at the University"s faculties of Mathematics, Engineering, Natural Sciences, Economics and Management, History and Geography, and Philology discussed serious crimes committed against civilians in Baku and other cities and regions of our country. The speakers described the events of January 20 as an unprecedented act of aggression and mass murder committed against the civilian population. It was noted that this tragedy, in addition to being a gross violation of human rights, was aimed at undermining the will of the Azerbaijani people for freedom and independence. It was stated that the crimes committed should be passed on to future generations as historical truth. According to official data, a total of 147 people was killed on and after January 20, 638 were injured, and 841 were illegally arrested. After the January 20 tragedy, the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people, Heydar Aliyev, along with his family members, visited the Azerbaijani Representative Office in Moscow at that time and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the crime committed, declaring that this was a grave crime against our people. This was not only a great moral support for our isolated people, subjected to an information blockade, but also the first step towards lifting that blockade by Heydar Aliyev, who was represented in the top leadership of the former USSR. The tragedy went down in the history of the Azerbaijani people as "Bloody January". After the return of the National Leader of our people, Heydar Aliyev, to the leadership of Azerbaijan in 1994, the events of January 20 were given a political and legal assessment and the names of the perpetrators were made public. January 20 was declared a National Day of Mourning.