May 28, a Glorious Anniversary
Posted on May. 26. 2024
BY REV. DR. VAHAN H. TOOTIKIAN
May 28, 1918 is a glorious day in the history of the Armenian nation. It’s an unforgettable landmark for the Armenian people.
Almost nine centuries after the fall of Bakradouni Kingdom in Armenia, and almost six centuries after the collapse of the Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia, the birth of the Republic of Armenia was nothing but a miracle. The dimmest moment in our history became the brightest, when the Armenian nation, like the mythological phoenix rose renewed from its ashes, established a state on the plains of Mount Ararat. With Western Armenia obliterated because of the Turkish Genocide of the Armenians, Eastern Armenia forged its own destiny, ready to participate as a sovereign member in the family of nations, leading the Armenian people to new horizons.
How was the new Republic of Armenian created? What were the circumstances under which it was created?
During World War I, while hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were forcibly deported to the Syrian and the Mesopotamian deserts and systematically massacred, there were thousands of other Armenians in the Russian Empire, serving in the Russian Army, were promised that if the Russians would win the war against the Turks, they would create an independent Armenia on the historic Armenian territories. Based on that promise, under the auspices of Catholicos Kevork IV, an Armenian National Bureau and a Military Council were formed, which, among other things sponsored the creation of seven voluntary brigades fighting against the Turks. By the beginning of 1917, the Russian Army, with the help of Armenian forces succeeded driving the Turks out of Western Armenian provinces and occupied them.
Although the Russians were able to crush the Turkish forces in the South, they suffered several humiliating defeats in the West by the Germans, who were the powerful allies of the Turkish government.
In the meantime, the Bolshevik Revolution was born and gradually infiltrated into the Russian government. Eventually it toppled Czar Nicholas II, on March 14, 1917 and brought the Romanov Dynasty to an end, after ruling the Russian Empire for 300 years.
There followed a great turmoil in the country. There was civil unrest in Russia. The Russian army’s frontlines began to crumble. The government of Young Turks took advantage of this unstable situation and exerted great pressure on the socialist government of Russia. In an effort to disengage Russians from the war, the Russians and the Turks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. As a consequence, Lenin, the boss of the Russian Socialist government ordered the Russian troops to abandon the Western Armenian territories and return home. The defense of the expansive Turkish front was left to the Armenians.
While Russia was preoccupied with civil unrest, the three regions of its empire in the Caucasus, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, were obliged to be Transcaucasian Federative Republic (later called the seim). This federation which was created in February of 1918 came apart within a few months, because the three nations, with their mutually contradictory interests and sensitivities, began to secretly plot against one another. The Azeris or the Tatars, being of Islamic religion, tried to ease the Turkish army’s invasion into Azerbaijan, in order to realize their plan for pan-Turanism. (Pan-Turanism was the plan of the Young Turks to unite all the Turkish speaking people throughout Turkey, the Russian Caucasus and Central Asia). The Georgians, though like the Armenians, desired to occupy territory to the detriment of the Armenians. Seeing this situation, the Turkish army advanced taking Kars and Alexandropol (Gyumry). Meanwhile the Georgians declared independence on May 26, 1918. One day later, on May 27 Azerbaijan also announced its independence.
The Turks were delighted at these declarations of national independence, because this way, the Caucasus was severing its ties with the Russians, and thus, Turkey would be able to have its own way. The Turkish government could even obliterate the Armenians of the Caucasus, just as it had endeavored to obliterate the Western Armenians.
Turkish forces mobilized an army of 35,000 men and advanced on Armenia. They captured Hamamlu (modern Spitak) and Alexandropol (Gyumri). In an attempt to seize the rest of Armenia, they began a three-pronged attack. They directed one toward Kara Kilise (modern Kirovakan), the other towards Bash Abaran (modern Abaran), and the third towards Sardarabad.
The Armenian troops were under the command of General Tovmas Nazarbekian, a former Russian Armenian general, who had resigned his commission when Czarist policy turned against the Armenians, but returned to the army when Russia abandoned its anti-Armenian stance. He defended the Kara Kilise front and assigned general Dro (Dramastad Ganayan) to defend Bash Abaran and General Movses Silikian to defend the city of Sardarabad. The strategy was to prevent the Turkish march towards Erevan.
It was a critical time of life and death. General Silikian made an emotional appeal to the people saying, “Arise all Armenians! Fight for your honor and the integrity of your country. Fight the way you ancestors fought to defend their lives and property.”
Although outnumbered and outgunned, the Armenian people realized that at stake was their very survival, thus multitudes of people —farmers, workers, intellectuals, clergy, young and old, even women — fought along with the Armenian soldiers and drove the invading Turkish army.
Following the decisive Battle of Sardarabad, on May 28, 1918, the Armenian National Council declared the independence of Armenia. The new state was in chaos. There was no organized administrative machinery, no means of transportation, no trained experts for the three branches of government. The food supply was exhausted. Famine and sickness were widely spread. In the words of the prime minister of the Republic, Hovhannes Kachaznouni, “The government has to start from scratch. It must create everything from a heap of ruins and absolute chaos… a condition which can be described by one word — catastrophic.”
Despite all internal and external problems, the creation of a state out of chaos and calamity was nothing but a miracle. May 28 was that miracle. It laid the foundation of the modern state of Armenia.
May 28 became, and still is, the symbol of Armenia’s national hope and aspirations. It is a testimony of struggle for liberty and independence, of the sacrifices of brave men and women to whom the ideals and honor of their nation was dearer than life.
Moreover, May 28 is also a lesson teaching us that cherishing the valor and sacrifices of our ancestors is not enough; that each generation has its role and responsibilities; each generation has its patriotic duties; that the future of the Republic of Armenia depends on our commitment to give our time, talent and treasure for the growth and development of our beloved fatherland.
Finally, May 28 is also a reminder that the Republic that we love today has been bought at the cost of our martyr’s blood. The Republic of Armenia rests upon the foundations cemented in place by the sacrifice of numerous Armenian soldiers and citizens. Its reservation and perpetuation as a democratic and progressive state is our challenge and responsibility.