For May 28…

After years of oppression, atrocities, Genocide and many battles against the Ottoman Turks, Armenians stood up united, fought back the Turkish armed forces led by the Young Turk military men and dealt the decisive blow to the Turks in the Battle of Sardarabad on May 24,1918, and on May 28 just three years after the start of the Genocide, the Independent Republic of Armenia was born. Sadly, it came to an end on December 2,1920 when Armenia became a Soviet republic.

These facts are stated in Hratch Dasnabedian’s book History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Dasnabedian writes, “The very soul of the victorious battle for national survival was Aram Manougian, one of the most celebrated heroes of Dashnaksutiun’s epic history. Under the leadership of Generals Nazarian, Siligian, Dro and Taniel Beg Piroumian, as well as the immediate assistance of the people’s collective resistance, the Armenian forces stopped the Turkish advance at the critical battles of Garakelliseh, Bash-Abaran, and Sardarabad at the last days of May 1918.”

What we have today we owe to the brave fedayees, men and women who from the days of Sultan rule in Ottoman Turkey to the late 1800s and on, be they Armenakans, Hunchaks or Dashnaks, fought for the survival and freedom of our homeland and people. If it weren’t for their determination to survive, we wouldn’t have our Armenia of today. And let us not forget the Armenian Diaspora whose contributions cannot be underestimated in the rebirth of the new Armenia.

Today in 2021, once again, after the September 27 attack on Artsakh, our homeland’s survival is in question due to known and unknown domestic and foreign forces whose aim and agenda are to wipe Armenia off the world map.

On the eve of the upcoming snap parliamentary elections on June 20, once again we need Aram Manougians and others to unite and lead our brothers and sisters in Armenia to have a stable and lasting country and economy.

We have survived Genocide in 1915.

We have survived the 1988 earthquake in Armenia.

We have survived the Communist regime.

We are still here and we are here to stay.

Justice will prevail. We are one nation: Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora.

Long live Armenia and Armenians.

Author information

Hrad Poladian

Born in 1942 in Cairo, Egypt, Hrad joined the Badanegan Mioutioun when he was 8 years old. He joined the ARF ranks in 1965. He's been living in Canada since 1966, and he has been a member of Armenian National Committee of Quebec from 1988 to 1993, where he handled media relations until his resignation from the ARF in 1994. However, he says, in his heart he is still a Tashnak for life.

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