Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

Soviet Occupation Day (Georgian: საბჭოთა ოკუპაციის დღე, sabch'ot'a okupats'iis dge) is a Memorial Day in the country of Georgia. It is observed annually on 25 February[1][2] to commemorate the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921.[3] The holiday was established in 2010, and its first observance was in 2011.

For other uses of this and similar names, see Soviet Occupation Day.

Soviet Occupation Day
Museum of the Soviet Occupation, Tbilisi
Observed byGeorgia
Date25 February
Next time25 February 2024 (2024-02)
Frequencyannual

In February 1921, the Red Army, following the post-1917 turmoil in Transcaucasia, entered Georgia, which was then the Menshevik-controlled Democratic Republic of Georgia. The Georgian Menshevik army was defeated and the government fled the country. On 25 February 1921 the Red Army entered the capital Tbilisi and installed a communist government, led by Georgian Bolshevik Filipp Makharadze. The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was established on 25 February 1921.[4] For the next 68 years, 25 February was celebrated as an official holiday, the Day of Establishment of Soviet Power in Georgia.[5]

On 21 July 2010, Georgia declared 25 February Soviet Occupation Day to recall the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921.[6] The Georgian parliament voted in favor of the government's initiative. The decision, endorsed unanimously by the Parliament of Georgia instructs the government to organize various memorial events on every 25 February and to fly national flags half-staff to commemorate, as the decision puts it, hundreds of thousands of victims of political repressions of the Communist occupational regime.[3]

Georgia's establishment of Soviet Occupation Day followed the example of Moldova.[1] Moldova's president Mihai Ghimpu instituted in 2010, Soviet Occupation Day[7][8] to remember the Soviet occupation on 28 June 1940,[9] but the Constitutional Court cancelled his decree on 12 July 2010.[10][11] In Latvia the Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day was declared an official remembrance day on 18 May 2000; it is observed on 17 June.[12]

References
  1. Georgia declares February 25 Soviet Occupation Day Archived 22 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Georgia establishes 'Soviet Occupation Day' Archived 24 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Civil Georgia. "Civil.Ge – February 25 Declared Day of Soviet Occupation". Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  4. Geronti Kikodze (1954) Notes of a Contemporary, first published in 1989, Mnatobi, Issue 1, Tbilisi, Georgia.
  5. "FBIS Report: Central Eurasia, Issues 105–111". Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 1992.
  6. "Free Situation Report for Non-Subscriber". Stratfor. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  7. Vladimir Socor, Moldovan Government Chickens out of Historical Assessment of Communism Archived 29 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "În fiecare an, pe 28 iunie, Moldova va comemora Ziua ocupaţiei sovietice şi victimele regimului totalitar comunist". PUBLIKA.MD. 25 February 2015. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. Vladimir Socor, Russia Defends Soviet Occupation of Moldova Archived 29 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Moldovan Leader: Court Ruling Against 'Soviet Occupation Day' Was Political". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 12 July 2010. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  11. Moldpres, Moldovan top court says presidential decree on Day of Soviet Occupation unlawful Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  12. "Grozījumi likumā "Par svētku un atceres dienām"". LIKUMI.LV. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
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