The First Republic Became a Source of Evil and Ridicule in the USSR: Pashinyan

Today we celebrate the Day of the Republic, which is connected to a genuinely pivotal event in our history—the founding of the First Republic. The First Republic, which was materialized through the heroic battle of Sardarapat, did not last long; its existence spanned merely two years and a few months.

However, the First Republic transformed us, a nation deprived of statehood for about 4-5 years, back into a state-forming people, and for the first time in our history, a form of governance—republic—was outlined, where the bearer of power is the people of Armenia, who decide through elections who should govern the state and how.

The First Republic revived but did not solidify the perception of statehood; it sowed the seeds, but did not root democracy and freedom within us, as it did not have the time to do so. Throughout almost the entire duration of the Soviet Union, the First Republic was targeted as a source of evil, becoming a subject of ridicule and contempt. The empire aimed to eradicate the sprouts of independent statehood that the First Republic could have sown in our consciousness.

In 1991, when Armenia regained its independence, it seemed that the 70-year propaganda had not left a deep mark on us and that our fears of being independent and self-sufficient had been overcome. However, now a retrospective analysis of the history of the Third Republic makes it evident that the disdain for statehood and our fears regarding sovereignty and independence have not been fully overcome. We continue to perceive history and the world often in the equations that Soviet imperial propaganda has consistently instilled in us,” he stated.