On May 8, Armenia celebrates Yerkrapah (Volunteer) Day (Arm. «երարարարի ր»), officially established in 2001.
Erkrapa – is a union of volunteers of the Republic of Armenia, created in 1993. Its emergence is associated with the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories in 1992-1994. The conflict was ethnopolitical in nature, and its roots went back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the first Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes occurred.
The role of volunteers who defended the territorial integrity of the young state with arms in hand was very great. At a difficult moment for the country, volunteers managed to take over border security and defend the security of the people and the country.
Today's holiday also has a second, unofficial name: «Shushi» Liberation Day. This is due to the fact that on May 8-9, 1992, during a military operation, a key stronghold of the Azerbaijani army in Nagorno-Karabakh was stormed, from which indiscriminate shelling of the city of Stepanakert was carried out.
In fact, at that time Armenia did not have its own army. The armed forces were volunteer formations, which became the basis for the creation of an army in the future.
In 1993, members of the volunteer armed formations of the Republic of Armenia were united into the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, headed by one of the commanders of the volunteer militia units in 1990-1992, Vazgen Sargsyan. After his death during a terrorist attack in 1999, he was elected as Yerkrapah's eternal Chairman. A monument to Vazgen Sargsyan was erected in the city of Shusha. There, at the entrance to the city, a « Monument to the liberation of Shushi» was erected in the form of a restored T-72 tank of the Armenian armed forces, which participated in the assault on the city.
Today, the Union of Volunteers «Erkrapah» is engaged in the military-patriotic education of the younger generation and the training of future personnel for the Armenian army, providing support and assistance to the families of fallen comrades.
Although the holiday is official in nature, it is not a non-working day. This does not prevent members of the Union from holding meetings of veterans, events for youth, as well as commemorative ceremonial events with the laying of flowers at the graves of comrades and memorials to war victims in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is also symbolic that Yerkrapah Day in the Armenian holiday calendar stands next to Victory Day. Both holidays in Armenia are very revered, as Yerkrapah veterans compare them as holidays symbolizing victory in the struggle for liberation.