People of the Revolution and the USSR
- Abdurrahman Khalil oglu Vezirov Əbdürrəhman Xəlil oğlu Vəzirov Gorbachev's man for the Karabakh crisis who fled Baku as Black January consumed Soviet Azerbaijan
- Kamran Mammad oglu Baghirov Kamran Məmməd oğlu Bağırov Heydar Aliyev's successor who crumbled before the Karabakh crisis
- Elmira Mikayil qızı Kafarova Elmira Qafarova A Soviet republican leader who asserted institutional authority in crisis
- Abulfaz Gadirgulu oghlu Elchibey Əbülfəz Qədirqulu oğlu Elçibəy The pan-Turkist dissident who became Azerbaijan's first democratically elected president
- Fuad Enver oglu Musayev Fuad Ənvər oğlu Musayev First Secretary of the Baku Party Committee who blocked buses from entering Baku, shifting the violence to Sumgait
- Ayaz Niyazi oghlu Mutalibov Ајаз Нијази оғлу Мүтәллибов The last Soviet leader caught between a renewed union and independence
- Jahangir Movsum oglu Muslimzade Cahangir Mövsüm oğlu Müslümzadə The Sumgait party boss handed a flag and photographed at the head of the mob
- Etibar Salidar oglu Mammadov Etibar Səlidar oğlu Məmmədov Deputy chairman of the Azerbaijani Popular Front who warned Primakov there would be resistance