Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

Soviet Occupation Day
Observed by	Georgia
Date	25 February
Next time	25 February 2017
Frequency	annual

Soviet Occupation Day (Georgian: საბჭოთა ოკუპაციის დღე, sabch'ot'a okupats'iis dge) is a holiday in the country of Georgia. It is observed annually on February 25^[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.

Overview

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 February 25, 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 February 25, 1921.^[4] For the next 68 years, February 25 was celebrated as an official holiday, the Day of Establishment of Soviet Power in Georgia.^[5]

On July 21, 2010, Georgia declared February 25 Soviet Occupation Day to recall the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921.^[6][7] 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 February 25 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^[8][9] to remember the Soviet occupation on June 28, 1940,^[10] but the Constitutional Court cancelled his decree on July 12, 2010.^[11][12] In Latvia the Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day was declared an official remembrance day on May 18, 2000, it is observed on June 17.^[13]

References

1. Georgia declares February 25 Soviet Occupation Day
2. Georgia establishes ‘Soviet Occupation Day’
3. Civil Georgia. "Civil.Ge - February 25 Declared Day of Soviet Occupation". 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. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
7. Georgia to mark Soviet occupation every year
8. Vladimir Socor, Moldovan Government Chickens out of Historical Assessment of Communism
9. "În fiecare an, pe 28 iunie, Moldova va comemora Ziua ocupaţiei sovietice şi victimele regimului totalitar comunist". PUBLIKA.MD. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
10. Vladimir Socor, Russia Defends Soviet Occupation of Moldova
11. "Moldovan Leader: Court Ruling Against 'Soviet Occupation Day' Was Political". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
12. Moldpres, Moldovan top court says presidential decree on Day of Soviet Occupation unlawful
13. "Grozījumi likumā "Par svētku un atceres dienām"". LIKUMI.LV. Retrieved 25 February 2015.

External links

• Georgia declares February 25 Soviet Occupation Day
• Georgia to mark Soviet occupation every year
• Soviet Occupation Remembered in Riga
• AllMoldova.md: "June 28 declared Day of Soviet Occupation'", 24 June 2010