Battle of Sardarabad

The Battle of Sardarabad was fought in late May 1918 on the plain beneath Mount Ararat. It was one of three battles in which the Armenians stopped the Ottoman army, together with the battles of Bash-Aparan and Gharakilisa (now Vanadzor). The Armenian victories made it possible to restore Armenian statehood after a long interval.¹²

The approach

In May 1918 Ottoman units crossed the Akhuryan and Araks rivers and attacked toward Gharakilisa, Bash-Aparan and Sardarabad. The Armenian forces that had retreated from Alexandrapol, now Gyumri, reached Sardarabad on 19 May.² The defenders were Eastern Armenians together with some survivors of the Armenian Genocide from Western Armenia, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted.² Catholicos Gevorg V Surenyants called on the nation to resist and would not leave Etchmiadzin.²

The battles

The fighting at Sardarabad began on 22 May. By 26 May the Ottoman army of 15,000 had been pushed back to Alexandrapol. At Bash-Aparan the Ottoman forces were defeated between 23 and 27 May, and at Gharakilisa between 24 and 28 May.¹ General Movses Silikyan commanded the Armenian forces at Yerevan; General Tovmas Nazarbekian, Colonels Daniel and Poghos Bek-Pirumian and Aram Manukian were among the other leaders.²¹

On 28 May Silikyan received an order to halt, because a truce had been signed at Batum, and he stopped the pursuit of the retreating Ottoman army.²

The Republic

On 28 May 1918 the Armenian National Council in Tiflis proclaimed itself the supreme authority over the Armenian provinces. The parliament and government of the republic were then formed, with Hovhannes Kajaznuni as prime minister, and Yerevan was named the capital.¹ The peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire was signed at Batum on 4 June 1918, and the Ottomans recognized the independence of Armenia in it.¹²