BAKU        -        Azerbaijan recalls the tragedy of Jan. 20, also called Black January, with sorrow and pride, its ambassador to Turkey told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview in Ankara.  Regarded as the rebirth of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Black January violent crackdown witnessed the massacre of more than 130 people and wounding of hundreds of civilians by the Soviet army in Baku and surrounding areas Jan. 20, 1990, on the eve of the country’s independence. Mass arrests accompanied the illegal deployment of troops and subsequent military intervention. Marking the 30th anniversary of the tragedy and remembering the violence Azerbaijan witnessed prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, Khazar Ibrahim said martyrs killed by the Soviet army became a symbol of independence. Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Turkey, Khazar Ibrahim  “The people of Azerbaijan, those who were in the streets, were massacred, for very simple reason. They were demanding independence. They were demanding territorial integrity. They were demanding dignity for Azerbaijan,” Ibrahim said. On the night of Jan. 19 - 20, under direct instructions from Mikhail Gorbachev, then General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, military units from the U.S.S.R.