Black January(Azerbaijani: Qara Yanvar), also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown in Bakuon January 19-20, 1990, pursuant to a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union President Gorbachev and Defence Minister Yazov asserted that military law was necessary to stop the violence against the Armenian population and to thwart efforts by the Azerbaijani independence movement to overthrow the Soviet Azerbaijani government. According to official estimates between 133 and 137 Azerbaijani civilians died, 800 people were injured and 5 persons went missing. However unofficial number put the number of victims at 300 dead. Later on, in 1995 Gorbachev apologised to Azerbaijan by stating: "The declaration of a state emergency in Baku was the biggest mistake of my political career. A Z#RIP #blackjanuary #blackjanuarybaku #20january #genocide (Buzovna)