Georgia Marks Anniversary of Bolshevik Red Army Invasion

TBILISI - 95 years ago, on February 25, the Bolshevik Red Army took over Tbilisi, which lead to 70 years of Soviet control over Georgia.

Today, the government buildings in Georgia lower their national flags to half-staff and officials lay a wreath at the memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives while fighting against Soviet occupation in 1921.

Since 2010, the Day of Soviet Occupation has officially marked, after the Parliament unanimously passed a resolution referring to the government organizing various memorial events on every February 25 to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of victims of political repression at the hands of the Communist occupational regime.

Following the post-1917 turmoil in Transcaucasia, the Red Army entered into the Menshevik-controlled Democratic Republic of Georgia in February 1921. The Georgian Menshevik army was defeated and the government fled into exile.

On February 25, the Red Army entered the capital Tbilisi and installed a communist government, led by Georgian Bolshevik Filipp Makharadze and established the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. It took more than six decades for Georgia to regain its independence.

On the day of Soviet Russian Occupation of democratic Georgia in 1921, the society Memorial and Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) organizes an open air exhibition showcasing the results of Georgia's Sovietization in Photos and dedicated to the victims of repression.

The exhibition will be open on February 25th, 11 am to 5pm on Rustaveli Avenue in front of the former building of the Parliament of Georgia.

Tamar Svanidze

Edited by Chloe Diamond