3 Gregory Vartanian tells fellow Armenians how he was injured when 40 people ransacked his apartment in Baku. On January 13, 1990, a week before Soviet troops invaded, many ethnic Armenians were targeted. At least 50 people were killed in Baku during ethnic violence between Armenians and Azerbaijanis after fighting flared in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Thirteen thousand Interior Ministry troops who were stationed in Baku did nothing to stop the violence.