September 21 is celebrated in Armenia as the 23rd anniversary of the Independence of the 3rd Republic of Armenia.
On August 23, 1990 The Supreme Council of Armenia adopted at its session the Armenian Declaration of Independence. It consisted of 12 provisions, two of which underlined that The Republic of Armenia is a self-governing state, endowed with the supremacy of state authority, independence, sovereignty, and plenipotentiary power, and the bearer of the Armenian statehood is the people of the Republic of Armenia.
After this processes RA Supreme Council decided on September 21, 1991 to pass a referendum in the territory of Armenia. The vast majority of the people of Armenia – 99% voted “yes” for the independence, answering to the question whether they “agree that the Republic of Armenia should be independent and democratic republic outside the USSR”.
On September 23 the RA Supreme Council declared Armenia an independent state. Afterwards the process of Armenia`s international recognition started. The first state to recognize RA independence was Lithuania, though it did so before the declaration of independence, on August 14, 1991. In December 1991 our independence was recognized by the USA< Russia, Romania, Canada and other states. Turkey is also among those countries, which, nevertheless, refused to establish diplomatic relations with RA proposing several unacceptable pre-conditions. On March 2, 1992 Armenia became a full member of the UN, and then acceded to some other organizations.
