1921 – Turkey’s first Constitution is adopted, making substantial changes to the source of the exercise of sovereignty, and sanctifying the principle of national sovereignty. The first constitution of the modern Turkish state was ratified by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1921. It was a simple document consisting of 23 short articles. In 1923 the constitution was amended to declare Turkey a republic.
1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His eldest son becomes a descendant of the throne, becoming Edward VIII. The Prince of Wales title would no longer be used for another 22 years. Edward, was King of the United Kingdom, British Colonies, and Emperor of India, from January 20, 1936 until his abdication on December 11 of that year.
1942 – During World War II, on the outskirts of Berlin, the Wannsee Conference is held, where senior Nazi officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. The purpose of the conference, called by SS No. 2, Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the co-operation of the administrative heads of various government departments in implementing the Holocaust.
1972 – Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons in January 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, i. who delegated the program to PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan with a commitment to have the bomb ready by the end of 1976.
1981 – On January 20, Iran released 52 American hostages it had held for 444 days. News of their release came just minutes after President Jimmy Carter’s term ended and Ronald Reagan was sworn in as his successor. Former President Carter, who had planned to meet the hostages in Germany as his final act, went there, not as president, but as President Reagan’s personal envoy.
1990 – Violent protests in Azerbaijan officially begin after this country announces the separation from the Soviet Union. Otherwise known as the “Black Saturday” or “January Massacre”, their bloody suppression, was an armed attack on a civilian population of Baku on January 19-20, 1990, in accordance with a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
2010 – Pashko Gjeçi, well-known poet, teacher and translator, dies. In the academic year 1938 he enrolled in the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in Rome, a city where he would have his high school friends L. Ljarja, K. Ashta and L. Radi. Translates from Latin and writes poems and critiques, which were published in Albania in the temporary “Cirka”, “Shkëndija” and a famous article for “Malcís Lahuta” in “Hylli i Dritës”. On July 15, 1942 he graduated with the degree of Doctor of Science in that faculty with excellent results. After returning to Albania, on September 4, 1947 he was banned on the charge “Participation in a group against the government” and sentenced to five years in prison. The years he spends in Durrës, Vloçisht and the Maliq swamp during the summer – also mentioned by Ejëll Çoba in his memoir where he was not allowed to work because he was very fast. P. Zefi said that Pashku had started translating Dante wisely while in prison. Released in 1952 released and relocated once again to Shkodra with his family, where he does heavy manual labor to live. In 1953-’54, TOB asked him to translate the work “Traviata”, thus finding Verdi rescued from the work of the wing. The Italian association “Dante Alighieri” in the 70’s internationally praised Gjeçi’s Albanian translation as one of the three best translations in the world of “Divine Comedy”. Gjeçi was decorated by the Italian President Çampi in 2004 with “Ordine della stella, della solidarietà italiana” for Dante’s translation. Laureate of several other national and international awards. For the 90th anniversary of his birth, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports of Albania awards the National Translation Award “Fan Noli”, for the translation of the work “Fausti” (Part 1.) by Goethe.
2012 – Died at Riverside, aged 73, Etta James. James, was an American singer who performed in a variety of genres, including blue, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “The Wallflower”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got Hold on Me” and “I Will Rather Go Blind”.
