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A solemn ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia and May heroic battles kicked off on Monday morning at Sardarapat Memorial Complex.

Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan, as well as other public, political and cultural figures are in attendance of the ceremony, reports Panorama.am.

“I congratulate you on the First Republic Day and the centennial of the heroic battles,” Pashinyan said in his welcoming remarks.

The festive event is broadcast live.

May 28 is a remarkable day in the history of Armenian people as the country is marking the 100th anniversary of a statehood born after the heavy battles of Bash-Aparan, Karakilisa and Sardarapat.

It was the Battle of Karakilisa of May 21-28, 1918, when the Armenian regular military forces and volunteers managed to repel the Ottoman forces, which broke the armistice signed in December 1917 with Transcaucasian commissariat entering Western Armenia, conquering Erznka, Erzerum, Sarighamish, Kars and Alexandropol and reaching Karakilisa. The victory here and in Sardarapat and Aparan was instrumental in allowing the Democratic Republic of Armenia to come into existence.

On June 4, 1918, the Armenian-Turkish peace treaty was signed in Batumi, which remapped Armenia. Yerevan, Etchmiadzin, Alexandropol, Karalagyaz, Kazakh, Borchalu and Nor Bayazet were perceived as Armenia, which in accordance with the treaty was established in the territory of 11,000 square meters.

On August 1, 1918, a ceremony of opening the Armenian parliament took place at the City Hall in Yerevan. Avetik Sahakyan (Father Abraham) was elected as Speaker of the parliament, with Hovannes Kajaznuni becoming the first Prime Minister.   

The First Republic had a short-lived existence, surviving until December 2, 1920, when the Soviet rule was established in Armenia.