Artsakh Defense Minister named the lessons Armenians must reap from Sardarapat Battle.

“A person willing to protect his motherland can organize its defense. Battle of Sardarapat proved this, enabling establishment of the first republic,” Movses Hakobyan said.

He further said that the “feat became inspiration” for Armenians to liberate Shushi and establish Nagorno Karabakh Republic almost a century later in 1992.

The Democratic Republic of Armenia, also known as the First Republic of Armenia, was proclaimed on May 28, 1918, after the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. Its army continued to fight on the Allied side south of the Caucasus until the Ottoman Empire surrendered in October 1918. The independent republic endured from May 1918 to December 1920.