ARMENIA IS MARKING FIRST REPUBLIC DAY

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
27.05.2009 20:58 GMT+04:00

Armenia is marking First Republic Day on May 28. Having defeated
the Turkish army in Sardarapat May 26, Armenian troops succeeded
in stopping the Turkish intervention in the Transcaucasus and rescue
Armenia from complete elimination. The Armenian Republic was proclaimed
the Armenian National Council May 28, 1918 in Tiflis after the decline
of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.

May 29 the western and eastern bureaus of ARF Dashnaktsutyun appointed
Hovhannes Kajaznuni the first-ever Prime Minister of independent
Armenia with Yerevan as capital. The last Prime Minister was Simon
Vratsyan. The Republic of Armenia had existed for two years in all. On
December 2, 1920, the troops of the 11th Red Army entered Yerevan
and the republic became soviet. In 1991 the Armenian SSR proclaimed
independence and the parliament announced May 28 a legal holiday.

A monument to Sardarapat battle heroes was inaugurated in 1968.