Director of the National Archives of Armenia Amatouni Virabyan regards as a miracle the May victories in Sardarapat, Gharakilis and Bash-Aparan, when the Republic of Armenia was declared on May 28, which the National Council members in Tbilisi had never expected.
“They were not ready for that and they had no program that envisaged a victory that would be celebrated. In memoirs I read that all the National Council members were sad when they discussed a resolution after the victory,” Mr Virabyan told reporters on Thursday.
The government was formed and the first prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia Hovhannes Kajaznuni was told to “govern from Tbilisi.”
“If the then head of the Armenian Council in Yerevan Aram Manukyan had not put forward an urgent demand, they would not have come, though Yerevan was a provincial town, while Tbilisi was provided with grain and food,” Mr Virabyan said.
It was for the first time that the Armenian people had been united, he added.
The situation was critical, Yerevan would have fallen and the Armenian people would have been annihilated.
The Sardarapat battle broke out on May 22, and the National Council did not know what was going in Eastern Armenia.
The Armenian population was in a disastrous situation as Turkey decided to seize Eastern Armenia, after siezing Western Armenia, and annihilate Armenians thus putting an end to the Armenian Cause.
On May 22, the Armenian troops united and launched an offensive and seized Sardarapat. There were so many volunteers that recruitment was discontinued.
Turkey’s regular army, which had defeated the British troops in the Battle of Gallipoli, suffered defeat and lost 3,000 soldiers.
“In fact, we had not had statehood since 1045, when Ani fell. And our state was restored at that time. Although the First Republic of Armenia was too small to live on, it was too great to die. It was a state,” Mr Virabyan concluded.