Defender of the Motherland Day ( uz, Vatan himoyachilari kuni; russian: День Защитника Отечества) also known as Uzbek Army Day is a holiday observed in

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

. It is celebrated on 14 January. It is the official professional holiday of the Uzbek Armed Forces.

History

On 14 January 1992, the

Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan The Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ўзбекистон Республикаси Қуролли Кучлари), is the name of the unified armed forces of Uzbekistan, consisting of the Ground Force and the Air and Air Defence ...

was established. This is considered to be the official holiday of the Armed Forces. Before this,

as part of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

recognized Soviet Army and Navy Day as the armed forces official holiday. Following the fall of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, some former

republics of the Soviet Union The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were National delimitation in the Soviet Union, national-based administrative units of ...

such as,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

, and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

continued to celebrate Soviet Army and Navy Day as

Defender of the Fatherland Day Defender of the Fatherland Day (russian: День защитника Отечества ''Den' zashchitnika Otechestva''; kk, Отан қорғаушы күні; tg, Рӯзи Дорандаи Ватан; ky, Мекенди коргоочула ...

. On 29 December 1993 the Uzbek Parliament established the Day of Defenders of Motherland to commemorate the anniversary of the establishment of the country's armed forces in 1992.

Celebrations

On this day military units of the Tashkent Garrison line up in Independence Square, and accept congratulations and awards from the president and the minister of defense. Holiday activities also include a wreath laying ceremony at the

Monument to the Independence of Uzbekistan The Monument to the Independence of Uzbekistan is a Tashkent monument made in honor of the independence of Uzbekistan. At the top of the monument is a metal sphere ornamented with an ornamental pattern, on which a map of Uzbekistan is depicted. Wr ...

and the

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

monument. On the holiday in 2019, the

Oliy Majlis The Oliy Majlis (Cyrillic ''Олий Мажлис'', ) is the parliament of Uzbekistan. It succeeded the Supreme Council of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1995, and was unicameral until a reform implemented in January 2005 created a second chambe ...

organized a round-table discussion on the topic "The Motherland is sacred and its defense is an honorable duty".

References

{{reflist January observances Public holidays in Uzbekistan Independence days 1992 establishments in Uzbekistan