This year marks the 35th anniversary of „Black January“ (January 19-20, 1990), when Soviet troops brutally suppressed independence movements in Azerbaijan, killing 147 civilians and injuring 744.

This crackdown, part of broader Soviet efforts to prevent the Union’s disintegration, highlighted the regime’s use of force against peaceful civilians, as seen in Tbilisi (1989) and Vilnius (1991). Being gross Human rights violations, these events have not yet received international political and legal assessment.

This conference examines the „Black January“ within the broader context of the USSR’s collapse and Soviet military intervention policy, the challenges of civilian protection during conflicts, and the role of historical analysis in understanding and addressing these events.

Please register here by January 17 at the latest.

The event will be held in English.

An event by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War in cooperation with the University of Graz.