USAN thanks Rep. Dean Heller for a thoughtful and detailed response to our Black January campaign
Washington D.C. - Letter of response from Congressman Dean Heller (R-NV) to the USAN Board Director Dr. Umit Guney on the subject of the USAN Black January campaign (scan of the actual letter enclosed with this press release):
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-2802
January 15, 2010
Dear Umit,
Thank you for contacting me to express your support of observing the 20th anniversary of "Black January" in Azerbaijan. I appreciate your views on this important issue.
Twenty years ago, one of the last brutal acts of the Soviet empire took place in Azerbaijan. On January 19 and 20 of 1990, Soviet troops invaded the capital city of Azerbaijan in what was an attempt to suppress the widespread feelings amongst the Azerbaijani population of obtaining its independence from the Soviet Union. More than a hundred Azerbajani civilians were killed, and more wounded, by Soviet troops that entered the city of Baku in an event that has become known as the "Black January."
Black January turned out to be the beginning of the end of Soviet rule in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan restored its independence from the Soviet Union on October 18, 1991. Every year, on the 19th and 20th of January, the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan pay tribute to those citizens who paid the highest price possible in the struggle for the independence of their home country. Please rest assured that I will remember your thoughts on this important issue. It is important that everyone around the world remember the tragedy of Black January and honor those who lost their lives.
Once again, thank you for contacting me to share your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
DEAN HELLER
Member of Congress
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The U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) <http://www.usazeris.org/> is a registered non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian genuine grassroots advocacy and voter education network that is facilitating political activism and efforts by the Azerbaijani-Americans and other Turkic-Americans and their associations, organizations, councils, conferences, and other formal, semi-formal and informal groups, on federal, state and local levels. USAN is the first nationwide grassroots organization uniting Azerbaijani-Americans, being created by the grassroots, for the grassroots.
