Soviet Occupation Day ( ka, საბჭოთა ოკუპაციის დღე, ''sabch'ot'a okupats'iis dge'') is a

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

in the country of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is observed annually on 25 FebruaryGeorgia declares February 25 Soviet Occupation Day
to commemorate the

Red Army invasion of Georgia The Red Army invasion of Georgia (12 February17 March 1921), also known as the Georgian–Soviet War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia,Debo, R. (1992). ''Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921'', pp. 182, 361� ...

in 1921. The holiday was established in 2010, and its first observance was in 2011. In February 1921, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, following the post-1917 turmoil in Transcaucasia, entered Georgia, which was then the

Menshevik The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

-controlled

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა, tr) was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia (country), Georgia, which exist ...

. The Georgian Menshevik army was defeated and the government fled the country. On 25 February 1921, the Red Army entered the capital

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

and installed a communist government, led by Georgian Bolshevik Filipp Makharadze. The

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

was established on 25 February 1921. For the next 68 years, 25 February was celebrated as an official holiday, the Day of Establishment of Soviet Power in Georgia. On 21 July 2010, Georgia declared 25 February Soviet Occupation Day to recall the invasion of Georgia in 1921. The Georgian parliament voted in favor of the government's initiative. The decision, endorsed unanimously by the

Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members elected through fully pr ...

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. Georgia's establishment of ''Soviet Occupation Day'' followed the example of Moldova.

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu (born 19 November 1951) is a Moldovan politician who served as Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, President of the Moldovan Parliament and President of Moldova#Republic of Moldova (1991–present), Acting President of Moldova from 2 ...

instituted in 2010, Soviet Occupation Day to remember the Soviet occupation on 28 June 1940, but the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

cancelled his decree on 12 July 2010. 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.

References

{{Authority control Remembrance days February observances Public holidays in Georgia (country) 1921 in Georgia (country) 2010 establishments in Georgia (country) Politics of Georgia (country)