January 28, 2020 - 12:45 AMT
Armenia celebrates Army Day

Armenia is honoring the troops of the country’s Armed Forces on January 28.

The Armed Forces of Armenia were officially established on January 28, 1992, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, several months after the declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

On every Army Day, the President and Prime Minister of Armenia, as well as other officials visit Yerablur memorial to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers who lost their lives defending the country.

This year on January 28, President Armen Sarkissian and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as well as the Catholicos of All Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II, National Assembly Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, members of the National Security Council, top military officials from the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces, visited Yerablur Military Pantheon to pay homage to the memory of the Armenian heroes.

Pashinyan laid flowers at the tombs of the soldiers who perished in the Four-Day War in April, 2016, as well as of late Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and military commander and statesman, fedayi Andranik Ozanyan. The PM laid a wreath at the Memorial to Fallen Freedom Fighters.

Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) President Bako Sahakyan, accompanied by the Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, and top officials visited the Stepanakert Memorial Complex.

The Artsakh leader laid flowers at the memorial to the victims of World War II, the tombs of the Artsakh Liberation War martyrs and the monument to the missing freedom fighters.