Armenia’s parliament has approved legislation establishing 27 January as the Day of Remembrance of Victims Who Died Defending the Homeland, a move that has drawn criticism from opposition lawmakers over both the wording and timing of the new commemorative date.
The law was adopted on Tuesday, just days before it is set to take effect. Beginning in 2026, the new remembrance day will create two consecutive public holidays, as it immediately precedes Armenian Army Day on 28 January.
The opposition voted against the bill.
Presenting the initiative in parliament, Vice Speaker Ruben Rubinyan said the intention was to identify a symbolic date that would not be tied to any specific military operation.
“We chose 27 January because it carries symbolic meaning: 28 January is Army Day, and 27 January precedes it”, Rubinyan said.
According to him, this sequence would allow the country to first pay tribute to those who died defending the homeland and then, the following day, to celebrate the continued existence of the Armenian army.
The proposal was introduced in 2025 by Rubinyan, a member of the ruling Civil Contract party, together with independent MP Gegham Nazaryan, who previously sat with the opposition Armenia Alliance faction.
Nazaryan’s son, Abgar, was killed during the Second Nagorno–Karabakh War in 2020. The bill passed its first reading in November.
Rubinyan said that despite objections raised by opposition lawmakers during the initial discussions, the authors considered several alternative options, including dates in August and Merelots, the Armenian day of remembrance observed after major church holidays. However, he said that the lack of consensus ultimately led lawmakers to return to the originally proposed 27 January.
Opposition lawmakers rejected the reasoning, describing the date as unacceptable.
Artsvik Minasyan, a lawmaker from the opposition Armenia Alliance faction, said his faction considers it unacceptable to designate 27 January as a day of remembrance for those killed defending the homeland, arguing that doing so effectively places the Armenian army in the position of a target.
According to Minasyan, the initiative attempts to associate the word ‘victim’ with the army, an approach he said his faction strongly opposes.
