A commemoration ceremony took place at Russia’s National Library, with the organizational support of Azerbaijan’s Consulate in the city of Saint Petersburg and the Azerbaijani Youth Organization of Russia (AYOR), to mark the 26^th anniversary of the 20^th January tragedy.

The ceremony was attended by Azerbaijan’s Diaspora activists, intelligentsia, Azerbaijani students and youth, representatives of the Russian society, and editor of the newspaper “Sekretniye matrialy” Alexander Karpov.

The martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for Azerbaijan’s independence were remembered with a minute of silence.

The attendees of the event were shown a documentary in Russian, called “A path leading to the bloody January, devoted to the tragedy of 20^th January.

Consul general Elshad Gulamov, president of the Smolny University’s scientific and educational consortium Heydar Imanov, member of the Russian Writers Union, professor Yuri Pompeyev, professor of the Saint Petersburg State University, doctor of history Niyazi Niyazov, head of the Azerbaijani Education Centre Hasan Mansimov, head of “Vatan” public organization Mazahir Hasanov, Russia’s honoured lawyer Yuri Soltanov, and active member of AYOR’s Saint Petersburg division, chairperson of the Students Board, student of the Kirov Military and Medical Academy Mehdi Alizadeh delivered a speech at the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony, prayers from Qur’an were read in memory of the martyrs. Participants were shown photo materials related to the tragedy of 20^th January.