"Shahidler Xiyabani" The Alley of Martyrs Baku.

Baku has a memorial, The Alley of Martyrs, dedicated to those killed in the 1990 clashes with the Soviet Union's Red Army in Azerbaijan's struggle for independence, all share the same death date: 20 January 1990.

On the 19th January 1990, Soviet troops launched a violent military operation in Baku, Azerbaijan, which has now become known as "Black January".

26,000 troops on the orders of Mikhail Gorbachev invaded the city to suppress the rising Azerbaijani national independence movement.

Gorbachev asserted that this military action was necessary to defeat the rising Azerbaijani independence movement and its aim overthrowing the Soviet Azerbaijani government.

This military action resulted in the deaths of 147 civilians and injuries to around 800 others.

The first tomb at the very entrance to Martyrs' Lane is that of a married couple Fariza and Ilham Allahverdiyev, Soviet troops shot dead Ilham and in grief Fariza committed suicide.
The tomb has become a symbol of fidelity and love

Along one side rows of highly polished black marble graves of those murdered by the Soviets

Opposite them marble seats for folk to sit and ponder, maybe visit a loved one and reflect. At the far end burns the eternal flame.

Inaugurated in 1998. A tomb standing over an 8-pointed star crown with a gold-frame.

Nearby the burial ground of some of those who died in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, between the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan.