Republic Day () is a national holiday in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

marking the anniversary of the First Armenian Republic in 1918. It is commonly celebrated with

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

concerts A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

parades A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety of ...

, and parties. It is considered to be the national day of Armenia.

History

Shortly after the start of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

began forcible expulsion of Armenians from the empire. Women, children and elderly people were forced to leave Armenia and go to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. 1 to 1.5 million people were killed in what is now known as the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

. Following the genocide, the Armenian National Council Declared its sovereignty on 28 May 1918. Armenia was proclaimed an independent republic on 28 May 1918. The republic immediately experienced massive hunger, and a massive influx of refugees. The republic was short lived, and as of 2 December 1920 the Red Army

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

Armenia and proclaimed it a

Soviet Republic A soviet republic (from ), also called council republic, is a republic in which the government is formed of soviets (workers' councils) and politics are based on soviet democracy. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, various revolutionary ...

. Armenia regained its independence in 1991.

Festivities

The first celebrations

The first celebrations of Republic Day since the

Sovietization of Armenia The Red Army invasion of Armenia was a military campaign which was carried out by the 11th Army of Soviet Russia from September to 2 December 1920 in order to install a new Soviet government in the First Republic of Armenia, a former territor ...

took place at the start of the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement (), also known as the Artsakh movement (), was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast ...

. On the First Republic's 70th anniversary in 1988, the

Flag of Armenia The national flag of Armenia (), also known as the Tricolour (), consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted the current flag on 24 August 1 ...

was first raised in front of

Matenadaran The Matenadaran (), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts. It was establ ...

. During a demonstration numbering tens of thousands in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

, 5000 protesters appeared carrying the tricolor flag and portraits of

Andranik Andranik Ozanian, commonly known as General Andranik or simply Andranik (25 February 186531 August 1927), was an Armenian military commander and statesman, the best known '' fedayi'' and a key figure of the Armenian national liberation moveme ...

Garegin Nzhdeh Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, better known by his ''nom de guerre'' Garegin Nzhdeh (, ; 1 January 1886 – 21 December 1955), was an Armenian statesman, military commander and nationalist revolutionary. As a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Fed ...

and

Armenian fedayi ''Fedayi'' ( Eastern ; , , , ), also known as the Armenian irregular units, Armenian militia, or Armenian Hayduks were Armenian civilians who voluntarily left their families to form self-defense units and irregular armed-bands in reaction to ...

s. According to Verluise, this day "marked a radicalisation of rmeniannational aspirations".

General celebrations

The Republic Day celebrations coincide with the anniversary of the

Battle of Sardarabad The Battle of Sardarabad (; ) was a battle of the Caucasus campaign of World War I that took place near Sardarapat, Armenia, Sardarabad, Armenia, from 21 to 29 May 1918, between the regular Armenian military units and militia on one side and the ...

, which pushed the invading

Ottoman Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

out of Armenia. Every year, the

President of Armenia The president of Armenia () is the head of state and the guarantor of independence and territorial integrity of Armenia elected to a single seven-year term by the National Assembly of Armenia. Under Armenia's parliamentary system, the president ...

, the

Prime Minister of Armenia The prime minister of Armenia () is the head of government and most senior minister within the Government of Armenia, Armenian government, and is required by the constitution to "determine the main directions of policy of the Government, manage ...

, and the

President of Artsakh The president of the Republic of Artsakh (, ) is the head of state and head of government of the government-in-exile of the once de facto Republic of Artsakh. In a constitutional referendum held in 2017, citizens of the republic voted in favo ...

visits the

Sardarapat Memorial Sardarapat Memorial is a memorial complex to the Battle of Sardarabad located in the village of Araks, in the Armavir Province of Armenia, 11 kilometers southwest of Armavir town. Design The memorial was designed by architect Rafael Israely ...

to lay a wreath at the monument. Many cultural and military events also take place on Republic Day. While in 2020, republic day was marked without the traditional public events and festive ceremonies due to restrictions to slow the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

100th Anniversary

The year 2018 marked the centennial of the founding of the First Armenian Republic. Armenia spent 618 million

dram Dram, DRAM, or drams may refer to: Technology and engineering * Dram (unit), a unit of mass and volume, and an informal name for a small amount of liquor, especially whisky or whiskey * Dynamic random-access memory, a type of electronic semicondu ...

on events marking the anniversary. The ceremonies (known as the "Century of Victories") were attended by the President

Armen Sarkissian Armen Vardani Sarkissian (; born 23 June 1952) is an Armenian politician, physicist, investor, businessman, and computer scientist who was the 4th president of Armenia from 2018 to 2022. He also was Prime Minister of Armenia from 1996 to 1997. ...

, Prime Minister

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician who is serving as the 16th and current Prime Minister of Armenia, prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in ...

, President of Artsakh

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan (; born 30 August 1960) is an Armenian politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving president of Artsakh. He was first elected ...

, and

Catholicos of All Armenians The Catholicos of All Armenians () is the chief bishop and spiritual leader of Armenia's national church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the worldwide Armenian diaspora. The Armenian Catholicos (plural Catholicoi) is also known as the Armenian ...

Karekin II Catholicos Garegin II (, also spelled Karekin; born 21 August 1951) is the Catholicos of All Armenians, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, since 1999. In 2013 he was unanimously elected the Oriental Orthodox head of the World Cou ...

. A ceremonial military parade was held at the

, which featured hundreds of soldiers dressed in military uniforms from the First Armenian,

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

uniforms from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, as well as veterans of the

first Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

. Historical vehicles such as the

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard p ...

were also on display. It also featured subdivisions of corps of the

Armenian Army The Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia (, abbreviated ՀՀ ԶՈՒ, ''HH ZU''), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army (), is the national military of Armenia. It consists of personnel branches under the General Staff of the Armenian Arm ...

, the Border Service of the National Security Service, the

Police of Armenia The Police of the Republic of Armenia () is the national police of Armenia. History Soviet era The first police service of Armenia was formed in 1918, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the First Republic of Armenia. On April 21, 1920, ...

, forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and, for the first time, servicemen of the

Russian 102nd Military Base The Russian 102nd Military Base (; ) is a List of Russian military bases abroad, Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia, under the command of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. During the Soviet era, forces in Armenia ...

. In the evening, on

's Republic Square, a 3D show took place.

References

External links

Armenia Marks Republic Day with Military Parade
��

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Հեծելազորից մինչեւ «Սմերչ». զինվորական շարանցում՝ Հայաստանի եւ Արցախի ԶՈՒ-ի մասնակցությամբ
��YouTube * The First Republic Day Parade in 1992
Part 1
an
Part 2
��YouTube {{Public holidays in Armenia Culture of Armenia

May observances Public holidays in Armenia