Republic Day in Armenia (28/05)

Every year on May 28, residents of Armenia celebrate the public holiday — Republic Day, which is a non-working day in the country. The second name of this holiday is — Day of Restoration of Sovereignty. On May 28, 1918, the independence of Armenia, which had been under the yoke of various conquerors for more than six centuries, was restored.

Divided between the Ottoman Empire and Persia in 1639, Armenia remained relatively stable until the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722. Around this time, Russian expansion into this region began. Russia annexed Persian Armenia in 1813—1827 and part of Turkish Armenia in 1828 and 1878. In the 1870s, the Armenian national movement emerged, whose leaders tried to benefit from the rivalry of the great powers of the time, which were trying to subjugate the Ottoman Empire.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the Turks began to resolve the «Armenian issue» by forcibly expelling all Armenians from Asia Minor. Armenian soldiers who served in the Turkish army were demobilized and shot, women, children and the elderly were forcibly expelled to the deserts of Syria. Estimates of the death toll vary widely — from 600 thousand to 1 million people.

Some Armenians managed to survive thanks to help from the Turks and Kurds, most of them fled to Russian Armenia or other countries in the Middle East. Russian Armenia was declared an independent republic on May 28, 1918.

Despite the famine, massive influx of refugees and conflicts with neighboring countries — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey —, the republic fought bravely for its existence. In 1920, units of the Red Army entered Armenia, and on December 2, 1920, the Soviet Republic was proclaimed there.

Despite the fact that the Republic of Armenia existed so relatively briefly, May 28 remains an important date for the inhabitants of the country, because on this day Armenia gained independence for the first time in six centuries.

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