Flags at half-staff around Georgia to mark 1921 Soviet occupation of Georgia
The Day of the Soviet Occupation was first marked in 2010. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The Georgian national flag is flying at half-staff at government buildings around the country today in remembrance of thousands of ordinary citizens and soldiers who died in the battle against Soviet forces 98 years ago.
On this day in 1921, Georgia lost its independence after the Bolshevik Red Army took over Tbilisi.
- Click here to watch a short documentary about the Soviet Russian Invasion in Democratic Republic of Georgia.
Georgian Prime Minister honored the memory of Georgian fallen heroes. Photo: Prime Minister's press office.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze honored the memory of soldiers who lost their lives in the fight.
Our history gives examples that freedom always defeats occupation," Bakhtadze stated.
Bakhtadze and Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze laid a wreath at the memorial of the heroes fallen between 17-24 February near Ialghuji, Kojori, and Tabakhmela near the Georgian capital, to defend the state independence.
The Flag of Georgia ???????? in front of the Orbeliani Presidential Palace has been lowered, to commemorate the tragic Soviet Occupation Day, 98 years after the Red Army invasion of our Democratic Republic. pic.twitter.com/p6a43pzyF3
— Presidential Administration of Georgia (@GeorgiaPres) February 25, 2019
Today, we honor the memory of the soldiers, our youth, who laid down their lives to stand up to Soviet occupation. I bow before all Georgian heroes who have sacrificed their lives for our country's freedom and independence,” Bakhtadze said.
He also visited a photo exhibition dedicated to these soldiers in the courtyard of the Tbilisi parliament.
The Day of Soviet Occupation was first officially marked in Georgia by the former government in 2010.
Parliament unanimously passed a resolution instructing the government to organise various memorial events each year on 25 February to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of victims of political repressions of the communist occupying regime.