Hayastani Hanrapetutyun: May 28, 1918 marked irreversible historic process for Armenians

Below is an excerpt from the paper's editorial devoted to the anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia:

In the face of the political disintegration of the Transcaucasus and the proclamation of the Georgian and Azerbaijani independent states, the Armenian National Council declared itself the only supreme power exercising authority over Armenian provinces.

With the formation of a National Armenian Government having been put off for for a few days for rather valid reasons, the National Council temporarily committed itself to exercising all the government functions to be at the helm of the Armenian provinces.

This message by the National Council on May 28 thus became the declaration of the independent Republic of Armenia. The allegations that the Armenians had thus re-established their statehood - lost 600 or 800 years ago - are not the precise reflections of the reality. 

After the fall of the Armenian kingdoms too, did the Armenian statehood maintain its existence in most different formats - independent authorities, melikdoms and other units of public administration.

More often than not, also the Armenian Apostolic Church took over the statehood's functions. And this is actually why the elements of statehood permanently accompanied the Armenian people over centuries, even in periods when it was under different empires' dominance. And this later laid the groundwork for forming the state institutions and the National Government of the First Republic.