“Grandma, whose grandfather is this one?” a little boy asked his grandmother as he passed a stranger’s gravestone in Yerablur Military Pantheon.
On Jan. 27, the Military Pantheon was packed: people came to mourn fallen soldiers and pay tribute to those who lost their lives on the battlefield. From a lonely mother cleaning her son’s gravestone for 30 years now, parents mourning their 18-year-old son’s untimely death, to children wandering among graves with their grandfathers, Yerablur was unusually lively.
A year ago, Jan. 27 would have meant little more than the eve of Jan. 28, the Armenian Army Day. Since 2026, its whole purpose has changed. As of 2026, Jan. 27 is officially recognized as the Day of Remembrance of those who died for the Defense of the Homeland.
This legislative initiative was co-authored by the Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan and independent Member of Parliament Gegham Nazaryan. It was first presented to the parliament on Nov. 11, 2025 and was adopted in its second reading in almost two months. Remembrance Day is grounded in the 2000 Law “On Perpetuating the Memory of Those Who Died for the Defense of the Homeland,” which identifies the establishment of commemorative dates as one of the primary forms of memorialization.
“Taking into consideration the recent conflicts and the established peace, our party is confident that now is the best time to declare a remembrance day as the best way to honor our martyrs is through peace,” Rubinyan said.
According to Rubinyan, the problem was to find a date not linked to any specific military operation or border clash. Several alternatives were introduced to the parliament, including the Monday following the Feast of the Elevation of Holy Cross (Khachverats), which was rejected because it was a movable feast.
“The date was chosen deliberately, so it would not be associated with any specific military operation or border clashes,” Rubinyan said during the second reading. “As per Gegham Nazaryan’s words, we will honor our ‘heavenly army’ on Jan. 27, and will celebrate the standing army on Jan. 28.”
Artsvik Minasyan from the Hayastan opposition party supported the establishment of a remembrance day; however, he condemned the choice of the date, calling it a “PR campaign” and accusing the authorities of deliberately targeting Army Day.
“With this date, the ruling party targets the Army,” Minasyan said. “This is a pressure coming from a certain group. Our party votes against the behavior, but not the idea.”
Consequently, the opposition rejected Jan. 27, warning that it risks overshadowing Army Day, particularly given the absence of state celebration in recent years.
The proposed date also drew criticism from parents of fallen soldiers, some of whom argued that the decision politicizes mourning and diminishes the meaning of Army Day.
“Jan. 27 targets and overshadows Sep. 27,” said Astgh Galeyan, the mother of Mkhitar Galeyan, who was killed during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. “Although there is no historical justification for this day, at the very least, they could have chosen a day that does not coincide with another nation’s genocide remembrance.”
“Now, by selecting this particular day, we mourn first and consequently undermine the importance of Jan. 28,” said Vladimir Galstyan, displaced from Artsakh. He believes Jan. 29 would still be a better alternative, preserving the significance of Army Day.
Standing next to the three memorial khachkars dedicated to Artsakh Liberation, which he barely saved from destruction in Aygestan village, Martakert region, Galstyan said that the nation should always remember its heroes and they do not need a specific remembrance day.
“We mourn them now, but what will happen a month later?” Galstyan said. “Yerablur should always be full of visitors.”
“Why did they choose this day right before Army Day?” asked Harutyun Harutyunyan’s father. “Remembrance one day, celebration the next? So they will remember the fallen but do nothing for Army Day?”
“I don’t mind having a Remembrance Day,” said Nazik Abrahamyan, whose 19-year-old son, Valodia Abrahamyan, was killed during the clashes in Ishkhanasar in 2022. “The issue is that no one remembers those days.”
Tensions surrounding Jan. 27 and 28 persisted even during the commemorations. Parties visited Yerablur on separate days, failing to reach a shared consensus on how remembrance should be marked.
On Jan. 27, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President Vahagn Khachatryan and President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan visited Yerablur. Before the arrival of the top leadership, the police blocked the entrance to Yerablur for citizens and journalists.
Starting from the early morning, some of the fallen soldiers’ parents were already gathered at Yerablur to stop the prime minister from approaching their sons’ graves.
“There was a tension in the air while he was here,” one of the parents said.
Pashinyan only laid flowers at the graves of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan and Andranik Ozanyan, and did not approach the graves of those fallen during recent conflicts.
The following day, on Jan. 28, opposition parties and Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II paid a visit. The Catholicos declined to answer journalists’ questions.
Despite differing opinions and disputes over the chosen date, institutions, organizations, and society as a whole adjusted to the newly established Remembrance Day. Both Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 were marked primarily by symbolic social media posts and several charity concerts organized by civil society groups. Apart from the top leadership’s visit to Yerablur on Jan. 27, no official events commemorating the establishment of the Armenian Armed Forces were held. Once again, the government did not formally celebrate Army Day.
The aftertaste of the newly marked Jan. 27 is yet to come. Discourses around it go on in the Parliament and on social platforms. All the while, those who mourn do mourn regardless of the date.
