The night from January 19 to January 20, 1990 entered the history of Azerbaijan as heroic page of the history of Azerbaijani people. At the same night, the Azerbaijani people were exposed to a bloody massacre by Soviet Army when they all went out to squares and streets of the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku  in order to protest against aggressive actions of Armenia, which had presented territorial claims to Azerbaijan.

In those tragic days, brave sons and daughters of our people sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom and independence of their native country Azerbaijan, recognizing the freedom, honor and dignity of their nation as the most superior value.

Tragedy of the 20th January, consequences of which include big losses and extermination of innocent people - elderly aged, women and children, demonstrated firmness and pride of Azerbaijani people, who were striving for freedom and independence as they could not bear treacherous policy applied towards Azerbaijan by former leadership of USSR. Owing to insuperability and firmness of inspiration among Azerbaijani people, we regained the independence aspired for a long years of the totalitarian regime.

Although 20 years have passed since those bloody events, every year the Azerbaijani people commemorates the tragedy of the 20th January, which is perpetuated to their memories as the Day of Nation-wide Sorrow.

The Armed Forces have three branches: Land Forces, Air Force and Air Defence Force (a united branch) and the Navy. Besides the Armed Forces there are some additional forces, which are militarily organised and can be involved in state defence when needed. Those are the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forces of the State Border Service, which includes Coastal Guard as well.[2].