Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the traditional Armenian homeland composed of Eastern Armenia and Western Armenia came under the rule of the Ottoman and Persian empires, repeatedly ruled by either of the two over the centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, while most of the western parts of the traditional Armenian homeland remained under Ottoman rule. During World War I, up to 1.5 million Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian genocide. In 1918, following the Russian Revolution, all non-Russian countries declared their independence after the Russian Empire ceased to exist, leading to the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Armenian SSR. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The original native Armenian name for the country was Հայք ([[[wikt:Հայք|Hayk’]]] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch (help)); however, it is currently rarely used. The contemporary name Հայաստան (Hayastan) became popular in the Middle Ages by addition of the Persian suffix -stan (place).[19] However the origins of the name Hayastan trace back to much earlier dates and were first attested in c.5th century in the works of Agathangelos,[20][21]Faustus of Byzantium,[22][23]Ghazar Parpetsi,[24]Koryun,[25] and Sebeos.[26]
The name has traditionally been derived from Hayk (Հայկ), the legendary patriarch of the Armenians and a great-great-grandson of Noah, who, according to the 5th-century AD author Moses of Chorene (Movsis Khorenatsi), defeated the Babylonian king Bel in 2492BC and established his nation in the Ararat region.[27] The further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also further postulated[28][29] that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states–the Ḫayaša-Azzi (1600–1200 BC).
Some scholars have linked the name Armenia with the Early Bronze Age state of Armani (Armanum, Armi) or the Late Bronze Age state of Arme (Shupria).[32] These connections are inconclusive as it is not known what languages were spoken in these kingdoms. Additionally, while it is agreed that Arme was located to the immediate west of Lake Van (probably in the vicinity of Sason, and therefore in the greater Armenia region), the location of the older site of Armani is a matter of debate. Some modern researchers have placed it near modern Samsat,[33] and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people.[34] It is possible that the name Armenia originates in Armini, Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country".[35] The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies the Mushki and the Kaskians. The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity of Sason, lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby lands of Urme and Inner Urumu.[36] Given that this was an exonym, it may have meant "wasteland, dense forest", cf. armutu (wasteland), armaḫḫu (thicket, thick woods), armāniš (tree). The southerners considered the northern forests to be the abode of dangerous beasts.
And for Aram there came forth the fourth portion, all the land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of 'Arara'.[39][40]
Jubilees 8:21 also apportions the Mountains of Ararat to Shem, which Jubilees 9:5 expounds to be apportioned to Aram.[39][40]
The first human traces are supported by the presence of Acheulean tools, generally close to the obsidian outcrops more than 1 million years ago.[42]
The most recent and important excavation is at the Nor Geghi 1 Stone Age site in the Hrazdan river valley.[43] Thousands of 325,000 year-old artifacts may indicate that this stage of human technological innovation occurred intermittently throughout the Old World, rather than spreading from a single point of origin (usually hypothesized to be Africa), as was previously thought.[44]
Many early Bronze Age settlements were built in Armenia (Valley of Ararat, Shengavit, Harich, Karaz, Amiranisgora, Margahovit, Garni, etc.). One of the important sites of the Early Bronze Age is Shengavit Settlement,[45] It was located on the site of today's capital of Armenia, Yerevan.
Several Bronze Age cultures and states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture, Hayasa-Azzi, and Mitanni (located in southwestern historical Armenia), all of which are believed to have had Indo-European populations.[50][51][52][53][54][55] The Nairi confederation and its successor, Urartu, successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highlands. Each of the aforementioned nations and confederacies participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenians.[56][57][58][59] A large cuneiform lapidary inscription found in Yerevan established that the modern capital of Armenia was founded in the summer of 782BC by King Argishti I. Yerevan is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.[60]
After the fall of the state of Urartu at the beginning of the 6th century BC, the Armenian Highlands were for some time under the hegemony of the Medes, and after that they were part of the Achaemenid Empire. Armenia was part of the Achaemenid state from the second half of the 6th century BC until the second half of the 4th century BC divided into two satrapies - XIII (western part, with the capital in Melitene) and XVIII (northeastern part).[61]
Religion in ancient Armenia was historically related to a set of beliefs that, in Persia, led to the emergence of Zoroastrianism. It particularly focused on the worship of Mithra and also included a pantheon of gods such as Aramazd, Vahagn, Anahit, and Astghik. The country used the solar Armenian calendar, which consisted of 12 months.[66]
Christianity spread into the country in the early 4th century AD.[67]Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion in 301,[67][68] partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems,[69] becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36years before Constantine the Great was baptised. Prior to this, during the latter part of the Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian country.[69]
After the fall of the Kingdom of Armenia in 428, most of Armenia was incorporated as a marzpanate within the Sasanian Empire.[70] Following the Battle of Avarayr in 451, Christian Armenians maintained their religion and Armenia gained autonomy.[71]
The Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
The Sassanid Empire was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the mid 7th century, reuniting Armenian lands previously taken by the Byzantine Empire, and Armenia subsequently emerged as Arminiya, an autonomous principality under the Umayyad Caliphate. The principality was ruled by the Prince of Armenia, and recognised by the Caliph and the Byzantine Emperor. It was part of the administrative division/emirate Arminiya created by the Arabs, which also included parts of Georgia and Caucasian Albania, and had its centre in the Armenian city, Dvin. Arminiya lasted until 884, when it regained its independence from the weakened Abbasid Caliphate under Ashot I of Armenia.[75]
The reemergent Armenian kingdom was ruled by the Bagratuni dynasty and lasted until 1045. In time, several areas of the Bagratid Armenia separated as independent kingdoms and principalities such as the Kingdom of Vaspurakan ruled by the House of Artsruni in the south, Kingdom of Syunik in the east, or Kingdom of Artsakh on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh, while still recognising the supremacy of the Bagratid kings.[76]
In 1045, the Byzantine Empire conquered Bagratid Armenia. Soon, the other Armenian states fell under Byzantine control as well. The Byzantine rule was short-lived, as in 1071 the Seljuk Empire defeated the Byzantines and conquered Armenia at the Battle of Manzikert, establishing the Seljuk Empire.[77] To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative, Gagik II of Armenia, King of Ani, an Armenian named Ruben I, Prince of Armenia, went with some of his countrymen into the gorges of the Taurus Mountains and then into Tarsus of Cilicia. The Byzantine governor of the palace gave them shelter where the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually established on 6 January 1198 under Leo I, King of Armenia, a descendant of Prince Ruben.[78]
Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East. Cilicia's significance in Armenian history and statehood is also attested by the transfer of the seat of the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the spiritual leader of the Armenian people, to the region.[79]
The Seljuk Empire soon started to collapse. In the early 12th century, Armenian princes of the Zakarid family drove out the Seljuk Turks and established a semi-independent principality in northern and eastern Armenia known as Zakarid Armenia, which lasted under the patronage of the Georgian Kingdom. The Orbelian Dynasty shared control with the Zakarids in various parts of the country, especially in Syunik and Vayots Dzor, while the House of Hasan-Jalalyan controlled provinces of Artsakh and Utik as the Kingdom of Artsakh.[80]
During the 1230s, the Mongol Empire conquered Zakarid Armenia and then the remainder of Armenia. The Mongolian invasions were soon followed by those of other Central Asian tribes, such as the Kara Koyunlu, Timurid dynasty and Ağ Qoyunlu, which continued from the 13th century until the 15th century. After incessant invasions, each bringing destruction to the country, with time Armenia became weakened.[81]
In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty of Iran divided Armenia. From the early 16th century, both Western Armenia and Eastern Armenia fell to the Safavid Empire.[82][83] Owing to the century long Turco-Iranian geopolitical rivalry that would last in West Asia, significant parts of the region were frequently fought over between the two rivalling empires during the Ottoman–Persian Wars. From the mid 16th century with the Peace of Amasya, and decisively from the first half of the 17th century with the Treaty of Zuhab until the first half of the 19th century,[84] Eastern Armenia was ruled by the successive Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar empires, while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule.
While Western Armenia still remained under Ottoman rule, the Armenians were granted considerable autonomy within their own enclaves and lived in relative harmony with other groups in the empire (including the ruling Turks). However, as Christians under a strict Muslim social structure, Armenians faced pervasive discrimination. In response to 1894 Sasun rebellion, Sultan Abdul Hamid II organised state-sponsored massacres against the Armenians between 1894 and 1896, resulting in an estimated death toll of 80,000 to 300,000 people. The Hamidian massacres, as they came to be known, gave Hamid international infamy as the "Red Sultan" or "Bloody Sultan".[88]
Armenian oblast (1828–1840) included the territory of the former Erivan (marked in yellow) and Nakhichevan (marked in light green) khanates
During the 1890s, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, commonly known as Dashnaktsutyun, became active within the Ottoman Empire with the aim of unifying the various small groups in the empire that were advocating for reform and defending Armenian villages from massacres that were widespread in some of the Armenian-populated areas of the empire. Dashnaktsutyun members also formed Armenian fedayi groups that defended Armenian civilians through armed resistance. The Dashnaks also worked for the wider goal of creating a "free, independent and unified" Armenia, although they sometimes set aside this goal in favour of a more realistic approach, such as advocating autonomy.
The Ottoman Empire began to collapse, and in 1908, the Young Turk Revolution overthrew the government of Sultan Hamid. In April 1909, the Adana massacre occurred in the Adana Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire resulting in the deaths of as many as 20,000–30,000 Armenians. The Armenians living in the empire hoped that the Committee of Union and Progress would change their second-class status. The Armenian reform package (1914) was presented as a solution by appointing an inspector general over Armenian issues.[89]
The genocide was implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre.[92][93] There was local Armenian resistance in the region, developed against the activities of the Ottoman Empire. The events of 1915 to 1917 are regarded by Armenians and the vast majority of Western historians to have been state-sponsored mass killings, or genocide.[94]
Turkish authorities deny the genocide took place to this day. The Armenian Genocide is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides.[95][96] According to the research conducted by Arnold J. Toynbee, an estimated 600,000 Armenians died during deportation from 1915 to 1916. This figure, however, accounts for solely the first year of the Genocide and does not take into account those who died or were killed after the report was compiled on 24 May 1916.[97] The International Association of Genocide Scholars places the death toll at "more than a million".[98] The total number of people killed has been most widely estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million.[99]
Armenia and the Armenian diaspora have been campaigning for official recognition of the events as genocide for over 30years. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on 24 April, the Armenian Martyr Day, or the Day of the Armenian genocide.[100]
The First Republic's short-lived independence was fraught with war, territorial disputes, large-scale rebellions, and a mass influx of refugees from Western Armenia, bringing with them disease and starvation. The Entente Powers sought to help the newly founded Armenian state through relief funds and other forms of support.[104]
At the end of the war, the victorious powers sought to divide up the Ottoman Empire. Signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Ottoman Empire at Sèvres on 10 August 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres promised to maintain the existence of the Armenian republic and to attach the former territories of Western Armenia to it.[105] Because the new borders of Armenia were to be drawn by United States President Woodrow Wilson, Western Armenia was also referred to as "Wilsonian Armenia". In addition, just days prior, on 5 August 1920, Mihran Damadian of the Armenian National Union, the de facto Armenian administration in Cilicia, declared the independence of Cilicia as an Armenian autonomous republic under French protectorate.[106]
There was even consideration of making Armenia a mandate under the protection of the United States. The treaty, however, was rejected by the Turkish National Movement, and never came into effect.[107] The movement used the treaty as the occasion to declare itself the rightful government of Turkey, replacing the monarchy based in Istanbul with a republic based in Ankara.
In 1920, Turkish nationalist forces invaded the fledgling Armenian republic from the east. Turkish forces under the command of Kazım Karabekir captured Armenian territories that Russia had annexed in the aftermath of the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War and occupied the old city of Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri). The violent conflict finally concluded with the Treaty of Alexandropol on 2 December 1920. The treaty forced Armenia to disarm most of its military forces, cede all former Ottoman territory granted to it by the Treaty of Sèvres, and to give up all the "Wilsonian Armenia" granted to it at the Sèvres treaty. Simultaneously, the Soviet Eleventh Army, under the command of Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze, invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day Ijevan) on 29 November. By 4 December, Ordzhonikidze's forces entered Yerevan and the short-lived Armenian republic collapsed.[108]
After the fall of the republic, the February Uprising soon took place in 1921, and led to the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia by Armenian forces under command of Garegin Nzhdeh on 26 April, which fought off both Soviet and Turkish intrusions in the Zangezur region of southern Armenia. After Soviet agreements to include the Syunik Province in Armenia's borders, the rebellion ended and the Red Army took control of the region on 13 July.
The TSFSR existed from 1922 to 1936, when it was divided up into three separate entities (Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, and Georgian SSR). Armenians enjoyed a period of relative stability within USSR in contrast to the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire. The situation was difficult for the church, which struggled with secular policies of USSR. After the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of the Communist Party, gradually established himself as the dictator of the USSR. Stalin's reign was characterized by mass repressions, that cost millions of lives all over the USSR.[citation needed]
Armenia was not the scene of any battles in World War II. An estimated 500,000 Armenians (nearly a third of the population) served in the Red Army during the war, and 175,000 died.[111] A total of 117 citizens of Armenia including 10 non ethnic Armenians were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. Six special military divisions were formed in Soviet Armenia in 1941–42, partly because so many draftees from the republic could not understand Russian. Five of them, the 89th, 409th, 408th, 390th, and 76th Divisions, would have a distinguished war record, while the sixth was ordered to stay in Armenia to guard the republic's western borders against a possible incursion by neighboring Turkey. The 89th Tamanyan Division, composed of ethnic Armenians, fought in the Battle of Berlin and entered Berlin.
It is claimed[by whom?] that the freedom index in the region had seen an improvement after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and the emergence of Nikita Khrushchev as the new general secretary of the CPSU. Soon, life in Armenia's SSR began to see rapid improvement. The church, which was limited during the secretaryship of Stalin, was revived when CatholicosVazgen I assumed the duties of his office in 1955. In 1967, a memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide was built at the Tsitsernakaberd hill above the Hrazdangorge in Yerevan. This occurred after mass demonstrations took place on the tragic event's fiftieth anniversary in 1965.
During the Gorbachev era of the 1980s, with the reforms of Glasnost and Perestroika, Armenians began to demand better environmental care for their country, opposing the pollution that Soviet-built factories brought. Tensions also developed between Soviet Azerbaijan and its autonomous district of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian region. About 484,000 Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in 1970.[112] The Armenians of Karabakh demanded unification with Soviet Armenia. Peaceful protests in Armenia supporting the Karabakh Armenians were met with anti-Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan, such as the one in Sumgait, which was followed by anti-Azerbaijani violence in Armenia.[113] Compounding Armenia's problems was a devastating earthquake in 1988 with a moment magnitude of 7.2.[114]
Gorbachev's inability to alleviate any of Armenia's problems created disillusionment among the Armenians and fed a growing hunger for independence. In May 1990, the New Armenian Army (NAA) was established, serving as a defence force separate from the Soviet Red Army. Clashes soon broke out between the NAA and Soviet Internal Security Forces (MVD) troops based in Yerevan when Armenians decided to commemorate the establishment of the 1918 First Republic of Armenia. The violence resulted in the deaths of five Armenians killed in a shootout with the MVD at the railway station. Witnesses there claimed that the MVD used excessive force and that they had instigated the fighting.[citation needed]
Further firefights between Armenian militiamen and Soviet troops occurred in Sovetashen, near the capital and resulted in the deaths of over 26 people, mostly Armenians. The pogrom of Armenians in Baku in January 1990 forced almost all of the 200,000 Armenians in the Azerbaijani capital Baku to flee to Armenia.[115] On 23 August 1990, Armenia declared its sovereignty on its territory. On 17 March 1991, Armenia, along with the Baltic states, Georgia and Moldova, boycotted a nationwide referendum in which 78% of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form.[116]
On 21 September 1991, Armenia officially declared its statehood after the failed August coup in Moscow, RSFSR. Levon Ter-Petrosyan was popularly elected the first President of the newly independent Republic of Armenia on 16 October 1991. He had risen to prominence by leading the Karabakh movement for the unification of the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh.[117] On 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Armenia's independence was recognised.
Ter-Petrosyan led Armenia alongside Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan through the First Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighbouring Azerbaijan. The initial post-Soviet years were marred by economic difficulties, which had their roots early in the Karabakh conflict when the Azerbaijani Popular Front managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a railway and air blockade against Armenia. This move effectively debilitated Armenia's economy as 85% of its cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic.[117] In 1993, Turkey joined the blockade against Armenia in support of Azerbaijan.[118]
The Karabakh war ended after a Russian-brokered ceasefire was put in place in 1994. The war was a success for the Karabakh Armenian forces who managed to capture 16% of Azerbaijan's internationally recognised territory including almost all of the Nagorno-Karabakh itself.[119] The Armenian backed forces remained in control of practically all of that territory until 2020. The economies of both Armenia and Azerbaijan have been hurt in the absence of a complete resolution and Armenia's borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan remain closed. By the time both Azerbaijan and Armenia had finally agreed to a ceasefire in 1994, an estimated 30,000 people had been killed and over a million had been displaced.[120] Several thousand were killed in the later 2020 Karabakh war.
21st century
In the 21st century, Armenia faces many hardships. It has made a full switch to a market economy. One study ranks it the 50th most "economically free" nation in the world, as of 2023[update].[121] Its relations with Europe, the Arab League, and the Commonwealth of Independent States have allowed Armenia to increase trade.[122][123] Gas, oil, and other supplies come through two vital routes: Iran and Georgia. As of 2016[update], Armenia maintained cordial relations with both countries.[124][needs update]
The 2018 Armenian Revolution was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and civil groups led by a member of the Armenian parliament — Nikol Pashinyan (head of the Civil Contract party). Protests and marches took place initially in response to Serzh Sargsyan's third consecutive term as President of Armenia and later against the Republican Party controlled government in general. Pashinyan declared the movement, which led to Sargsyan's resignation, a "velvet revolution".[125]
In March 2018, the Armenian parliament elected Armen Sarkissian as the new President of Armenia. The controversial constitutional reform to reduce presidential power was implemented, while the authority of the prime minister was strengthened.[126] In May 2018, parliament elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the new prime minister. His predecessor Serzh Sargsyan resigned two weeks earlier following widespread anti-government demonstrations.[127]
On 20 June 2021, Pashinyan's Civil Contract party won an early parliamentary election. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was officially appointed to the post of prime minister by Armenia's President Armen Sarkissian.[131] In January 2022, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian resigned from office, stating that the constitution no longer gives the president sufficient powers or influence.[132] On 3 March 2022, Vahagn Khachaturyan was elected as the fifth president of Armenia in the second round of parliamentary vote.[133] The next month yet more protests broke out.[134]
Between 19 and 20 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against the self-declared breakaway state of Artsakh, a move seen by the European Parliament as a violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement.[135][136] The offensive took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but populated by Armenians.[137][138] The attacks occurred in the midst of an escalating crisis caused by Azerbaijan blockading Artsakh, which resulted in significant scarcities of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and other goods in the affected region.[139]
One day after the offensive started, on 20 September, a ceasefire agreement was reached at the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping command in Nagorno-Karabakh.[140] Azerbaijan held a meeting with representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians on 21 September in Yevlakh, to be followed by another meeting in October.[141][142] Ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were nonetheless reported by both Artsakhi residents and officials.[143][144]
Armenia has a territorial area of 29,743 square kilometres (11,484sqmi). The terrain is mostly mountainous, with fast flowing rivers, and few forests. The land rises to 4,090 metres (13,419 feet)above sea level at Mount Aragats, and no point is below 390 metres (1,280ft)above sea level.[148]Average elevation of the country area is tenth highest in the world and it has 85.9% mountain area, more than Switzerland or Nepal.[149]
Mount Ararat, which was historically part of Armenia, is the highest mountain in the region at 5,137 meters (16,854 feet). Now located in Turkey, but clearly visible from Armenia, it is regarded by the Armenians as a symbol of their land. Because of this, the mountain is present on the Armenian national emblem today.[150][151][152]
The climate in Armenia is markedly highland continental. Summers are hot, dry and sunny, lasting from June to mid-September. The temperature fluctuates between 22 and 36°C (72 and 97°F). However, the low humidity level mitigates the effect of high temperatures. Evening breezes blowing down the mountains provide a welcome refreshing and cooling effect. Springs are short, while autumns are long. Autumns are known for their vibrant and colourful foliage.
Winters are quite cold with plenty of snow, with temperatures ranging between −10 and −5°C (14 and 23°F). Winter sports enthusiasts enjoy skiing down the hills of Tsaghkadzor, located thirty minutes outside Yerevan. Lake Sevan, nestled up in the Armenian highlands, is the second largest lake in the world relative to its altitude, at 1,900 metres (6,234ft)above sea level.
Environment
Carbon dioxide emissions in metric tons per capita in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Germany, Italy, USA in 2000–2012. World Bank data.
Armenia ranked 63rd out of 180 countries on Environmental Performance Index (EPI) in 2018. Its rank on subindex Environmental Health (which is weighted at 40% in EPI) is 109, while Armenia's rank on subindex of Ecosystem Vitality (weighted at 60% in EPI) is 27th best in the world.[154] This suggests that main environmental issues in Armenia are with population health, while environment vitality is of lesser concern. Out of sub-subindices contributing to Environmental Health subindex ranking on Air Quality to which population is exposed is particularly unsatisfying.
In Armenia forest cover is around 12% of the total land area, equivalent to 328,470 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 334,730 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 310,000 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 18,470 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 5% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 0% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership.[155][156]
Waste management in Armenia is underdeveloped, as no waste sorting or recycling takes place at Armenia's 60 landfills. A waste processing plant is scheduled for construction near Hrazdan city, which will allow for closure of 10 waste dumps.[157]
Despite the availability of abundant renewable energy sources in Armenia (especially hydroelectric and wind power) and calls from EU officials to shut down the nuclear power plant at Metsamor,[158] the Armenian Government is exploring the possibilities of installing new small modular nuclear reactors. In 2018 existing nuclear plant is scheduled for modernization to enhance its safety and increase power production by about 10%.[159][160]
The Fragile States Index since its first report in 2006 until most recent in 2019, consistently ranked Armenia better than all its neighboring countries (with one exception in 2011).[162]
Armenia has a difficult relation with neighbouring countries Azerbaijan and Turkey. Tensions were running high between Armenians and Azerbaijanis during the final years of the Soviet Union. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict dominated the region's politics throughout the 1990s.[167] To this day, Armenia's borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are under severe blockade. In addition, a permanent solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has not been reached despite the mediation provided by organizations such as the OSCE.
Turkey also has a long history of poor relations with Armenia over its refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide, even though it was one of the first countries to recognize the Republic of Armenia (the third republic) after its independence from the USSR in 1991. Despite this, for most of the 20th century and early 21st century, relations remain tense and there are no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries due to Turkey's refusal to establish them for numerous reasons. During the first Nagorno-Karabakh War, and citing it as the reason, Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993. It has not lifted its blockade despite pressure from the powerful Turkish business lobby interested in Armenian markets.[167]
On 10 October 2009, Armenia and Turkey signed protocols on the normalisation of relations, which set a timetable for restoring diplomatic ties and reopening their joint border.[168] The ratification of those had to be made in the national parliaments. In Armenia, before sending the protocols to the parliament, it was sent to the Constitutional Court to have their constitutionality to be approved. The Constitutional Court made references to the preamble of the protocols underlying three main issues.[169] One of them stated that the implementation of the protocols did not imply Armenia's official recognition of the existing Turkish-Armenian border established by the Treaty of Kars. By doing so, the Constitutional Court rejected one of the main premises of the protocols, i.e. "the mutual recognition of the existing border between the two countries as defined by relevant treaties of international law".[169][170] This was for the Turkish Government the reason to back down from the Protocols.[171] The Armenian President had made multiple public announcements, both in Armenia and abroad, that, as the leader of the political majority of Armenia, he assured the parliamentary ratification of the protocols if Turkey also ratified them. Despite this, the process stopped, as Turkey continuously added more preconditions to its ratification and also "delayed it beyond any reasonable time-period".[citation needed]
Due to its position between two hostile neighbours, Armenia has close security ties with Russia. At the request of the Armenian government, Russia maintains a military base in the city of Gyumri located in Northwestern Armenia[172] as a deterrent against Turkey.[citation needed] Despite this, Armenia has also been looking toward Euro-Atlantic structures in recent years. Armenia maintains positive relations with the United States, which is home to the second largest Armenian diaspora community in the world. According to the US Census Bureau, there are 427,822 Armenian Americans in the country.[173]
Because of the illicit border blockades by Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia continues to maintain solid relations with its southern neighbour Iran, especially in the economic sector. Economic projects are being developed between the two nations, including a gas pipeline going from Iran to Armenia.
Armenia is a member of the Council of Europe and maintains close relations with the European Union; especially with its member states France and Greece. In January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia may enter the EU in the future.[174] A 2005 survey reported that 64% of Armenians favored joining the EU,[175] a move multiple Armenian officials have voiced support for.[176]
Following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia's relations with a long-term ally Russia started to deteriorate. In February 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the CSTO "hasn't fulfilled its security obligations towards Armenia" and that "in practice we have basically frozen our participation in the CSTO".[187] On 28 February 2024, during a speech made in the National Assembly, Pashinyan further stated that the CSTO is "a threat to the national security of Armenia".[188] In March 2024, Armenia officially expelled Russian border guards from the Zvartnots International Airport in Yerevan.[189]
On 2 March 2024, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan advised that Armenia would officially "apply to become a candidate for EU membership in the coming days, within a month at most".[190][191] On 5 March, Pashinyan stated that Armenia would apply for EU candidacy by Autumn 2024 at the latest.[192] On 8 March 2024, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated, "Armenia is seeking to get closer to the West amid worsening relations with Russia" and "New opportunities are largely being discussed in Armenia nowadays, that includes membership in the European Union".[193][194]
Active forces now number about 81,000 soldiers, with an additional reserve of 32,000 troops. Armenian border guards are in charge of patrolling the country's borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian troops continue to monitor its borders with Iran and Turkey. In the case of an attack, Armenia is able to mobilize every able-bodied man between the age of 15 and 59, with military preparedness.[citation needed]
Human rights in Armenia tend to be better than those in most former Soviet republics and have drawn closer to acceptable standards, especially economically.[citation needed] Nonetheless, there are still several considerable problems.
Armenia scored 5.63 on The Economist Democracy Index, published in January 2023 (data for 2022). Although still classified as "hybrid regime", Armenia recorded the strongest improvement among European countries and reached its ever-best score since calculation began in 2006.[195]
Armenia is classified as "partly free" in the 2019 report (with data from 2018) by Freedom House, which gives it a score of 51 out of 100,[196] which is 6 points ahead of the previous estimate.[197]
Armenia recorded unprecedented progress in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, improving its position by 19 points and ranking 61st on the list. The publication also confirms the absence of cases of killed journalists, citizen journalists or media assistants.[198][199]
Armenia ranks 26th in the 2022 report of The Human Freedom Index published by the American CATO Institute and Canada's Fraser Institute.[200]
Armenia is divided into ten provinces (marzer, singular marz), with the city (kaghak) of Yerevan (Երևան) having special administrative status as the country's capital. The chief executive in each of the ten provinces is the marzpet (marz governor), appointed by the government of Armenia. In Yerevan, the chief executive is the mayor, elected since 2009.
Within each province there are communities (hamaynkner, singular hamaynk). Each community is self-governing and consists of one or more settlements (bnakavayrer, singular bnakavayr). Settlements are classified as either towns (kaghakner, singular kaghak) or villages (gyugher, singular gyugh). As of 2007[update], Armenia includes 915 communities, of which 49 are considered urban and 866 are considered rural. The capital, Yerevan, also has the status of a community.[204] Additionally, Yerevan is divided into twelve semi-autonomous districts.
The economy relies heavily on investment and support from Armenians abroad.[207] Before independence, Armenia's economy was largely industry-based – chemicals, electronics, machinery, processed food, synthetic rubber, and textile – and highly dependent on outside resources. The republic had developed a modern industrial sector, supplying machine tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and energy.[67]
Agriculture accounted for less than 20% of both net material product and total employment before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. After independence, the importance of agriculture in the economy increased markedly, its share at the end of the 1990s rising to more than 30% of GDP and more than 40% of total employment.[208] This increase in the importance of agriculture was attributable to food security needs of the population in the face of uncertainty during the first phases of transition and the collapse of the non-agricultural sectors of the economy in the early 1990s. As the economic situation stabilised and growth resumed, the share of agriculture in GDP dropped to slightly over 20% (2006 data), although the share of agriculture in employment remained more than 40%.[209]
Yerevan is the economic and cultural centre of Armenia.
Armenian mines produce copper, zinc, gold, and lead. The vast majority of energy is produced with fuel imported from Russia, including gas and nuclear fuel (for its one nuclear power plant); the main domestic energy source is hydroelectric. Small deposits of coal, gas, and petroleum exist but have not yet been developed.
Access to biocapacity in Armenia is lower than world average. In 2016, Armenia had 0.8 global hectares [210] of biocapacity per person within its territory, much less than the world average of 1.6 global hectares per person.[211] In 2016 Armenia used 1.9 global hectares of biocapacity per person—their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they use double as much biocapacity as Armenia contains. As a result, Armenia is running a biocapacity deficit.[210]
Like other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union, Armenia's economy suffers from the breakdown of former Soviet trading patterns. Soviet investment in and support of Armenian industry has virtually disappeared, so that few major enterprises are still able to function. In addition, the effects of the 1988 Spitak earthquake, which killed more than 25,000 people and made 500,000 homeless, are still being felt. The conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. Shutdown of the nuclear power plant in 1989 led to the Armenian energy crisis of 1990s. The GDP fell nearly 60% between 1989 and 1993, but then resumed robust growth after the power plant was reopened in 1995.[208] The national currency, the dram, suffered hyperinflation for the first years after its introduction in 1993.
Nevertheless, the government was able to make wide-ranging economic reforms that paid off in dramatically lower inflation and steady growth. The 1994 ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has also helped the economy. Armenia has had strong economic growth since 1995, building on the turnaround that began the previous year, and inflation has been negligible for the past several years. New sectors, such as precious-stone processing and jewelry making, information and communication technology and tourism are beginning to supplement more traditional sectors of the economy, such as agriculture.[212]
This steady economic progress has earned Armenia increasing support from international institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and other international financial institutions (IFIs) and foreign countries are extending considerable grants and loans. Loans to Armenia since 1993 exceed $1.1billion. These loans are targeted at reducing the budget deficit and stabilising the currency; developing private businesses; energy; agriculture; food processing; transportation; the health and education sectors; and ongoing rehabilitation in the earthquake zone. The government joined the World Trade Organization on 5 February 2003. But one of the main sources of foreign direct investments remains the Armenian diaspora, which finances major parts of the reconstruction of infrastructure and other public projects. Being a growing democratic state, Armenia also hopes to get more financial aid from the Western World.
A liberal foreign investment law was approved in June 1994, and a law on privatization was adopted in 1997, as well as a program of state property privatization. Continued progress will depend on the ability of the government to strengthen its macroeconomic management, including increasing revenue collection, improving the investment climate, and making strides against corruption. However, unemployment, which was 18.5% in 2015,[213] still remains a major problem due to the influx of thousands of refugees from the Karabakh conflict.
In 2017, the economy grew by 7.5% due to rising copper prices.[161]
In 2022, Armenia's GDP stood at $39.4 billion, and enjoyed an economic freedom index of 65.3, according to Heritage Organisation.[214]
The Armenian economy is predicted to grow by 13% in 2022 due to a huge influx of Russian citizens.[215] The IMF's preliminary forecast as of March 2022 predicted growth of 1.5% for the year.[216]
Research spending is low in Armenia, averaging 0.25% of GDP over 2010–2013. However, the statistical record of research expenditure is incomplete, as expenditure by privately owned business enterprises is not surveyed in Armenia. The world average for domestic expenditure on research was 1.7% of GDP in 2013.[217]
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) to GDP ratio for the Black Sea countries, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 12.3.
The country's Strategy for the Development of Science 2011–2020 envisions that 'by 2020, Armenia is a country with a knowledge-based economy and is competitive within the European Research Area with its level of basic and applied research.' It fixes the following targets:[217]
Creation of a system capable of sustaining the development of science and technology;
Development of scientific potential, modernization of scientific infrastructure;
Promotion of basic and applied research;
Creation of a synergistic system of education, science and innovation; and
Becoming a prime location for scientific specialization in the European Research Area.
Based on this strategy, the accompanying Action Plan was approved by the government in June 2011. It defines the following targets:[217]
Improve the management system for science and technology and create the requisite conditions for sustainable development;
Involve more young, talented people in education and research, while upgrading research infrastructure;
Create the requisite conditions for the development of an integrated national innovation system; and
Enhance international co-operation in research and development.
GERD in the Black Sea region by sector of performance, 2005 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 12.5.
Although the Strategy clearly pursues a 'science push' approach, with public research institutes serving as the key policy target, it nevertheless mentions the goal of establishing an innovation system. However, the main driver of innovation, the business sector, is not mentioned. In between publishing the Strategy and Action Plan, the government issued a resolution in May 2010 on Science and Technology Development Priorities for 2010–2014. These priorities are:[217]
Armenian studies, humanities and social sciences;
Life sciences;
Renewable energy, new energy sources;
Advanced technologies, information technologies;
Space, Earth sciences, sustainable use of natural resources; and
Basic research promoting essential applied research.
The Law on the National Academy of Sciences was adopted in May 2011. This law is expected to play a key role in shaping the Armenian innovation system. It allows the National Academy of Sciences to extend its business activities to the commercialization of research results and the creation of spin-offs; it also makes provision for restructuring the National Academy of Sciences by combining institutes involved in closely related research areas into a single body. Three of these new centres are particularly relevant: the Centre for Biotechnology, the Centre for Zoology and Hydro-ecology and the Centre for Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry.[217]
The government is focusing its support on selected industrial sectors. More than 20 projects have been cofunded by the State Committee of Science in targeted branches: pharmaceuticals, medicine and biotechnology, agricultural mechanization and machine building, electronics, engineering, chemistry and, in particular, the sphere of information technology.[217]
Over the past decade, the government has made an effort to encourage science–industry linkages. The Armenian information technology sector has been particularly active: a number of public–private partnerships have been established between companies and universities, in order to give students marketable skills and generate innovative ideas at the interface of science and business. Examples are Synopsys Inc. and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation.[217] Armenia was ranked 63rd in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.[218]
Armenia has a population of 2,932,731 as of 2022[219] and is the third most densely populated of the former Soviet republics.[220] There has been a problem of population decline due to elevated levels of emigration after the break-up of the USSR.[221] In the past years emigration levels have declined and some population growth is observed since 2012.[222]
Armenia has a relatively large external diaspora (8million by some estimates, greatly exceeding the 3million population of Armenia itself), with communities existing across the globe. The largest Armenian communities outside of Armenia can be found in Russia, France, Iran, the United States, Georgia, Syria, Lebanon, Australia, Canada, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Poland, Ukraine and Brazil. 40,000 to 70,000 Armenians still live in Turkey (mostly in and around Istanbul).[223]
During the Soviet era, Azerbaijanis were historically the second largest population in the country, numbering 76,550 in 1922,[230] and forming about 2.5% in 1989.[231] However, due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, virtually all of them emigrated from Armenia to Azerbaijan. Conversely, Armenia received a large influx of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, thus giving Armenia a more homogeneous character.
According to Gallup research conducted in 2017 Armenia has one of the highest migrant acceptance (welcoming) rates in eastern Europe.[232]
Armenians have their own distinct alphabet and language,[233] which is the only official language. The alphabet was invented c.AD 405 by Mesrop Mashtots and consists of thirty-nine letters, three of which were added during the Cilician period.[234] The main foreign languages that Armenians know are Russian and English. Due to its Soviet past, most of the old population can speak Russian quite well. According to a 2013 survey, 95% of Armenians said they had some knowledge of Russian (24% advanced, 59% intermediate) compared to 40% who said they knew some English (4% advanced, 16% intermediate and 20% beginner). However, more adults (50%) think that English should be taught in public secondary schools than those who prefer Russian (44%).[235]
The 7th-century Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat, the peak on which Noah's Ark, is said to have landed during the biblical flood.Portal to the Holy City at Echmiazin, the seat of the Catholicos
The predominant religion in Armenia is Christianity. Its roots go back to the 1st century AD, when it was founded by two of Jesus' twelve apostles – Thaddaeus and Bartholomew – who preached Christianity in Armenia between AD 40–60.
Other Christian denominations in Armenia are the Pentecostal branches of Protestant community such as the Word of Life, the Armenian Brotherhood Church,[241] the Baptists (which are known as one of the oldest existing denominations in Armenia, and were permitted by the authorities of the Soviet Union),[242][243] and Presbyterians.[244]
Armenia is also home to a Russian community of Molokans which practice a form of Spiritual Christianity originated from the Russian Orthodox Church.[245]
The Yazidis, who live in the western part of the country, practice Yazidism.[246] The world's largest Yazidi temple, Quba Mêrê Dîwanê, was completed in 2019[247] in the village of Aknalich.[229]
There is a Jewish community in Armenia of approximately 750 people since independence with most emigrants leaving for Israel. There are currently two synagogues in Armenia – one in the capital, Yerevan, and the other in the city of Sevan located near Lake Sevan.
Healthcare in Armenia has undergone significant changes since independence in 1991. Initially, the Soviet healthcare system was highly centralized and provided free medical assistance to all citizens. After independence, the healthcare system underwent reform and primary care services have been free of charge since 2006. Despite improvements in accessibility and the implementation of an Open Enrollment program, out-of-pocket health expenditures remain high and corruption among healthcare professionals remains a concern.[248] In 2019, healthcare became free for all citizens under the age of 18 and the number of people receiving free or subsidized care under the Basic Benefits Package was increased.[249][250]
After a significant decline in earlier decades, crude[h] birth rates in Armenia slightly increased from 13.0 (per 1000 people) in the year 1998 to 14.2 in 2015;[251] this timeframe also showed a similar trajectory in the crude death rate, which grew from 8.6 to 9.3.[252]Life expectancy at birth at 74.8 years was the 4th-highest among the Post-Soviet states in 2014.[253]
A literacy rate of 100% was reported as early as 1960.[254]In the communist era, Armenian education followed the standard Soviet model of complete state control (from Moscow) of curricula and teaching methods and close integration of education activities with other aspects of society, such as politics, culture, and the economy.[254]
In the 1988–89 school year, 301 students per 10,000 were in specialized secondary or higher education, a figure slightly lower than the Soviet average.[254] In 1989, some 58% of Armenians over age fifteen had completed their secondary education, and 14% had a higher education.[254] In the 1990–91 school year, the estimated 1,307 primary and secondary schools were attended by 608,800 students.[254] Another seventy specialised secondary institutions had 45,900 students, and 68,400 students were enrolled in a total of ten postsecondary institutions that included universities.[254] In addition, 35% of eligible children attended preschools.[254] In 1992 Armenia's largest institution of higher learning, Yerevan State University, had eighteen departments, including ones for social sciences, sciences, and law.[254] Its faculty numbered about 1,300 teachers and its student population about 10,000 students.[254] The National Polytechnic University of Armenia is operating since 1933.[254]
In the early 1990s, Armenia made substantial changes to the centralised and regimented Soviet system.[254] Because at least 98% of students in higher education were Armenian, curricula began to emphasise Armenian history and culture.[254]Armenian became the dominant language of instruction, and many schools that had taught in Russian closed by the end of 1991.[254] Russian was still widely taught, however, as a second language.[254]
In 2014, the National Program for Educational Excellence embarked on creating an internationally competitive and academically rigorous alternative educational program (the Araratian Baccalaureate) for Armenian schools and increasing the importance and status of the teacher's role in society.[255][256]
The Ministry of Education and Science is responsible for regulation of the sector. Primary and secondary education in Armenia is free, and completion of secondary school is compulsory.[254] Higher education in Armenia is harmonized with the Bologna process and the European Higher Education Area. The Armenian National Academy of Sciences plays an important role in postgraduate education.
Schooling takes 12 years in Armenia and breaks down into primary (4 years), middle (5 years) and high school (3 years). Schools engage a 10-grade mark system. The government also supports Armenian schools outside of Armenia.
Gross enrollment in tertiary education at 44% in 2015 surpassed peer countries of the South Caucasus but remained below the average for Europe and Central Asia.[257] However, public spending per student in tertiary education in GDP-ratio terms is one of the lowest for post-USSR countries (for which data was available).[258]
Armenian architecture, as it originates in an earthquake-prone region, tends to be built with this hazard in mind. Armenian buildings tend to be rather low-slung and thick-walled in design. Armenia has abundant resources of stone, and relatively few forests, so stone was nearly always used throughout for large buildings. Small buildings and most residential buildings were normally constructed of lighter materials, and hardly any early examples survive, as at the abandoned medieval capital of Ani.[259]
Armenian music is a mix of indigenous folk music, perhaps best-represented by Djivan Gasparyan's well-known duduk music, as well as light pop, and extensive Christian music.
Instruments like the duduk, dhol, zurna, and kanun are commonly found in Armenian folk music. Artists such as Sayat Nova are famous due to their influence in the development of Armenian folk music. One of the oldest types of Armenian music is the Armenian chant which is the most common kind of religious music in Armenia. Many of these chants are ancient in origin, extending to pre-Christian times, while others are relatively modern, including several composed by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet. Whilst under Soviet rule, the Armenian classical music composer Aram Khatchaturian became internationally well known for his music, for various ballets and the Sabre Dance from his composition for the ballet Gayane.
The Armenian Genocide caused widespread emigration that led to the settlement of Armenians in various countries in the world. Armenians kept to their traditions and certain diasporans rose to fame with their music. In the post-genocide Armenian community of the United States, the so-called "kef" style Armenian dance music, using Armenian and Middle Eastern folk instruments (often electrified/amplified) and some western instruments, was popular. This style preserved the folk songs and dances of Western Armenia, and many artists also played the contemporary popular songs of Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries from which the Armenians emigrated.
Richard Hagopian is perhaps the most famous artist of the traditional "kef" style and the Vosbikian Band was notable in the 1940s and 1950s for developing their own style of "kef music" heavily influenced by the popular American Big Band Jazz of the time. Later, stemming from the Middle Eastern Armenian diaspora and influenced by Continental European (especially French) pop music, the Armenian pop music genre grew to fame in the 1960s and 1970s with artists such as Adiss Harmandian and Harout Pamboukjian performing to the Armenian diaspora and Armenia; also with artists such as Sirusho, performing pop music combined with Armenian folk music in today's entertainment industry.
Other Armenian diasporans that rose to fame in classical or international music circles are world-renowned French-Armenian singer and composer Charles Aznavour, pianist Sahan Arzruni, prominent opera sopranos such as Hasmik Papian and more recently Isabel Bayrakdarian and Anna Kasyan. Certain Armenians settled to sing non-Armenian tunes such as the heavy metal band System of a Down (which nonetheless often incorporates traditional Armenian instrumentals and styling into their songs) or pop star Cher. In the Armenian diaspora, Armenian revolutionary songs are popular with the youth. These songs encourage Armenian patriotism and are generally about Armenian history and national heroes.
Yerevan Vernissage (arts and crafts market), close to Republic Square, bustles with hundreds of vendors selling a variety of crafts on weekends and Wednesdays (though the selection is much reduced mid-week). The market offers woodcarving, antiques, fine lace, and the hand-knotted wool carpets and kilims that are a Caucasus speciality. Obsidian, which is found locally, is crafted into assortment of jewellery and ornamental objects. Armenian gold smithery enjoys a long tradition, populating one corner of the market with a selection of gold items. Soviet relics and souvenirs of recent Russian manufacture – nesting dolls, watches, enamel boxes and so on – are also available at the Vernisage.
Across from the Opera House, a popular art market fills another city park on the weekends. Armenia's long history as a crossroads of the ancient world has resulted in a landscape with innumerable fascinating archaeological sites to explore. Medieval, Iron Age, Bronze Age and even Stone Age sites are all within a few hours drive from the city. All but the most spectacular remain virtually undiscovered, allowing visitors to view churches and fortresses in their original settings.
The National Art Gallery in Yerevan has more than 16,000 works that date back to the Middle Ages, which indicate Armenia's rich tales and stories of the times. It houses paintings by many European masters as well. The Modern Art Museum, the Children's Picture Gallery, and the Martiros Saryan Museum are only a few of the other noteworthy collections of fine art on display in Yerevan. Moreover, many private galleries are in operation, with many more opening every year, featuring rotating exhibitions and sales.
On 13 April 2013, the Armenian government announced a change in law to allow freedom of panorama for 3D works of art.[260]
Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Armenia guarantees freedom of speech and Armenia ranks 61st in the 2020 Press Freedom Index report compiled by Reporters Without Borders, between Georgia and Poland.[261] Armenia's press freedom rose considerably following the 2018 Velvet Revolution.[262]
As of 2020, the biggest issue facing press freedom in Armenia is judicial harassment of journalists, specifically defamation suits and attacks on journalists' right to protect sources,[263] as well as excessive responses to combat disinformation spread by social media users. Reporters Without Borders also cites continued concerns about lack of transparency regarding ownership of media outlets.[261]
Cinema in Armenia was born on 16 April 1923, when the Armenian State Committee of Cinema was established by a decree of the Soviet Armenian government.
However, the first Armenian film with Armenian subject called "Haykakan Sinema" was produced earlier in 1912 in Cairo by Armenian-Egyptian publisher Vahan Zartarian. The film was premiered in Cairo on 13 March 1913.[264]
In March 1924, the first Armenian film studio; Armenfilm (Armenian: Հայֆիլմ "Hayfilm", Russian: Арменкино "Armenkino") was established in Yerevan, starting with a documentary film called Soviet Armenia.
Namus was the first Armenian silentblack-and-white film, directed by Hamo Beknazarian in 1925, based on a play of Alexander Shirvanzade, describing the ill fate of two lovers, who were engaged by their families to each other since childhood, but because of violations of namus (a tradition of honor), the girl was married by her father to another person. The first sound film, Pepo was shot in 1935 and directed by Hamo Beknazarian.
Armenian cuisine is closely related to eastern and Mediterranean cuisine; various spices, vegetables, fish, and fruits combine to present unique dishes. The main characteristics of Armenian cuisine are a reliance on the quality of the ingredients rather than heavily spicing food, the use of herbs, the use of wheat in a variety of forms, of legumes, nuts, and fruit (as a main ingredient as well as to sour food), and the stuffing of a wide variety of leaves.
The pomegranate, with its symbolic association with fertility, represents the nation. The apricot is the national fruit.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia, the most popular among them being wrestling, weightlifting, judo, association football, chess, and boxing. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practised on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been successful in chess, weightlifting and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
Prior to 1992, Armenians would participate in the Olympics representing the USSR. As part of the Soviet Union, Armenia was very successful, winning plenty of medals and helping the USSR win the medal standings at the Olympics on numerous occasions. The first medal won by an Armenian in modern Olympic history was by Hrant Shahinyan (sometimes spelled as Grant Shaginyan), who won two golds and two silvers in gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. To highlight the level of success of Armenians in the Olympics, Shahinyan was quoted as saying:
"Armenian sportsmen had to outdo their opponents by several notches for the shot at being accepted into any Soviet team. But those difficulties notwithstanding, 90 percent of Armenian athletes on Soviet Olympic teams came back with medals."[265]
Armenia first participated at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona under a unified CIS team, where it was very successful, winning three golds and one silver in weightlifting, wrestling and sharp shooting, despite only having five athletes. Since the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Armenia has participated as an independent nation.
Armenia participates in the Summer Olympic Games in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming and sharp shooting. It also participates in the Winter Olympic Games in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and figure skating.
Football is also popular in Armenia. The most successful team was the FC Ararat Yerevan team of the 1970s who won the Soviet Cup in 1973 and 1975 and the Soviet Top League in 1973. The latter achievement saw FC Ararat gain entry to the European Cup where – despite a home victory in the second leg – they lost on aggregate at the quarter-final stage to eventual winner FC Bayern Munich. Armenia competed internationally as part of the USSR national football team until the Armenian national football team was formed in 1992 after the split of the Soviet Union. Armenia have never qualified for a major tournament although recent improvements saw the team to achieve 44th position in the FIFA World Rankings in September 2011. The national team is controlled by the Football Federation of Armenia. The Armenian Premier League is the highest level football competition in Armenia, and has been dominated by FC Pyunik in recent seasons. The league currently consists of eight teams and relegates to the Armenian First League.
Traditional Armenian wrestling is called Kokh and practised in traditional garb; it was one of the influences included in the Soviet combat sport of Sambo, which is also very popular.[267]
The government of Armenia budgets about $2.8million annually for sports and gives it to the National Committee of Physical Education and Sports, the body that determines which programs should benefit from the funds.[265]
Due to the lack of success lately on the international level, in recent years, Armenia has rebuilt 16 Soviet-era sports schools and furnished them with new equipment for a total cost of $1.9million. The rebuilding of the regional schools was financed by the Armenian government. $9.3million has been invested in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor to improve the winter sports infrastructure because of dismal performances at recent winter sports events. In 2005, a cycling centre was opened in Yerevan with the aim of helping produce world class Armenian cyclists. The government has also promised a cash reward of $700,000 to Armenians who win a gold medal at the Olympics.[265]
↑ Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. p.30. ISBN978-1884964985. OCLC37931209. Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; [...] Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.
↑ Robert Drews (2017). Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe. Routledge. ISBN978-0367886004. p. 228: "The vernacular of the Great Kingdom of Biainili was quite certainly Armenian. The Armenian language was obviously the region's vernacular in the fifth century BC, when Persian commanders and Greek writers paired it with Phrygian. That it as brought into the region between the early sixth and the early fifth century BC, and that it immediately obliterated whatever else had been spoken there, can hardly be supposed; [...] Because Proto-Armenian speakers seem to have lived not far from Hurrian speakers our conclusion must be that the Armenian language of Mesrop Mashtots was descended from an Indo-European language that had been spoken in southern Caucasia in the Bronze Age."
↑ Grousset, René (1947). Histoire de l'Arménie (1984ed.). Payot. p.122.. Estimated dates vary from 284 to 314. Garsoïan (op.cit. p. 82), following the research of Ananian, favours the latter.
↑ Acharian, Hrachia (1946). Hayocʿ anjnanunneri baṙaran[Dictionary of Personal Names of Armenians] (in Armenian). Vol.3. Yerevan: Yerevan University Press. p.29. Archived from the original on 5 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
↑ Ագաթանգեղոս §§ 13 (ի Հայաստան աշխարհէս), 16 (Հայաստան աշխարհիս 2x, ի Հայաստան աշխարհիս), 35 (Հայաստան աշխարհին), 160 (Հայաստան աշխարհիս), 249 (Հայաստան աշխարհիս), 715 (Հայաստան աշխարհիս), 776 (Հայաստան աշխարհին), 784 (Հայաստան աշխարհին), 796 (ի մէջ Հայաստան աշխարհի), 808 (հասանէին ի Հայաստան աշխարհն)։
↑ Rafael Ishkhanyan, "Illustrated History of Armenia," Yerevan, 1989
↑ Elisabeth Bauer. Armenia: Past and Present (1981), p. 49
↑ "Χαλύβοισι πρὸς νότον Ἀρμένιοι ὁμουρέουσι (The Armenians border on the Chalybes to the south)". Chahin, Mark (2001). The Kingdom of Armenia. London: Routledge. p.fr. 203. ISBN978-0-7007-1452-0.
↑ Armen Petrosyan. The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic. Journal of Indo-European Studies. Institute for the Study of Man. 2002. p. 184. Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Armen Petrosyan. The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic. Journal of Indo-European Studies. Institute for the Study of Man. 2002. pp. 166–167. Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine
↑ History of Armenia by Father Michael Chamich from B.C. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian era, Bishop's College Press, Calcutta, 1827, p. 19: "[Aram] was the first to raise the Armenian name to any degree of renown; so that contemporary nations... called them the Aramians, or followers of Aram, a name which has been corrupted into Armenians; and the country they inhabited, by universal consent, took the name of Armenia."
↑ Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. p.Book 1, section 143. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
↑ Dolukhanov, Pavel; Aslanian, Stepan; Kolpakov, Evgeny; Belyaeva, Elena (2004). "Prehistoric Sites in Northern Armenia". Antiquity. 78 (301). Archived from the original on 29 May 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
↑ Adler, D. S.; Wilkinson, K. N.; Blockley, S.; Mark, D. F.; Pinhasi, R.; Schmidt-Magee, B. A.; Nahapetyan, S.; Mallol, C.; Berna, F. (26 September 2014). "Early Levallois technology and the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Southern Caucasus". Science. 345 (6204): 1609–1613. Bibcode:2014Sci...345.1609A. doi:10.1126/science.1256484. ISSN0036-8075. PMID25258079. S2CID10266660.
↑ Greppin, John A. C.; Diakonoff, I. M. (1991). "Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 111 (4): 720–730. doi:10.2307/603403. ISSN0003-0279. JSTOR603403.
↑ Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans, Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) (2008) pp. 92
↑ Svenska forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul (1993). Lennart Rydén; Jan Olof Rosenqvist (eds.). Aspects of Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium: Papers Read at a Colloquium Held at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul 31 May-5 June, 1992. Swedish Research Institute. ISBN9789186884055. OCLC1131566057.
↑ Charles W. Hartley; G. Bike Yazicioğlu; Adam T. Smith, eds. (2012). The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions. Cambridge University Press. p.65. ISBN978-1-107-01652-1. ...the unique temple-tomb at Garni, just east of Yerevan – the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building anywhere in the Soviet Union.
↑ Stokes, Jamie, ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East. New York: Infobase Publishing. p.65. ISBN978-1-4381-2676-0. Etchmiatzin is located in the west of modern Armenia, close to the border with Turkey, and its fourth-century cathedral is generally regarded as the oldest in the world.
↑ Bauer-Manndorff, Elisabeth (1981). Armenia: Past and Present. Lucerne: Reich Verlag. OCLC8063377. Etchmiadzin, with the world's oldest cathedral and the seat of the Catholicos, draws tourists from all over the world.
↑ Utudjian, Édouard (1968). Armenian Architecture: fourth to 17th Century. Paris: Editions A. Morancé. p.7. OCLC464421. ...the oldest cathedral in Christendom, that of Etchmiadzin, founded in the fourth century.
↑ Holt, Peter Malcolm; Lambton, Ann Katharine Swynford & Lewis, Bernard (1977). The Cambridge History of Islam. pp.231–32.
↑ Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.); N. Y.) Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York; Speros P. (jr.) Vryonis; Thomas F. Mathews; Jeffrey C. Anderson; Annemarie Weyl Carr; Henry Maguire; Robert G. Ousterhout; Ioli Kalavrezou; Eunice Dauterman Maguire; Olenka Z. Pevny; Joseph D. Alchermes; S. Peter Cowe; Thelma K. Thomas; Jaroslav Folda; Priscilla Soucek (1997). Helen C. Evans; William D. Wixom; William D.. Wixom (eds.). The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261. Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp.361–. ISBN978-0-87099-777-8. OCLC1008249298.
↑ Richard G. Hovannisian (11 February 2004). The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times: Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp.23–31. ISBN978-1-4039-6422-9. OCLC805125065.
↑ Kirakosian, J. S. (1972). Hayastane michazkayin divanakitut'yan ew sovetakan artakin kaghakakanut'yan pastateghterum, 1828–1923[Armenia in the documents of international diplomacy and Soviet foreign policy, 1828–1923] (in Armenian). Yerevan. pp.149–358.
↑ Kieser, Hans-Lukas; Schaller, Dominik J. (2002), Der Völkermord an den Armeniern und die Shoah[The Armenian genocide and the Shoah] (in German), Chronos, p.114, ISBN978-3-0340-0561-6
↑ Walker, Christopher J. (1980), Armenia: The Survival of A Nation, London: Croom Helm, pp.200–03
↑ Robert Melson, Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, University of Chicago Press, 15 October 1992, p. 147
1 2 Закавказская федерация. Большая советская энциклопедия, 3-е изд., гл. ред. А. М. Прохоров. Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1972. Т. 9 (A. M. Prokhorov; etal., eds. (1972). "Transcaucasian Federation". Great Soviet Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol.9. Moscow: Soviet Encyclopedia.)
↑ "Armenia, Azerbaijan: Baku Launches Military Operation In Nagorno-Karabakh". Stratfor. 19 September 2023. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023. ...the Russian peacekeeping contingent is incapable of preventing Azerbaijan's seizure of the region, despite this being a clear violation of the November 2020 ceasefire brokered by Russia that ended the last war.
↑ "Joint statement on Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023. We condemn in the strongest terms today's pre-planned and unjustified attack of Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh...We recall that the attack takes place in the context of a major humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, following Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor for the past nine months, in violation of Baku's commitments under the ceasefire statement of 9 November 2020 and of the legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice. Humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh needs to be fully and permanently restored.
↑ Ilyushina, Mary (19 September 2023). "Fighting flares between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023. Azerbaijan and Armenia have repeatedly clashed over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians and largely governed by the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh.
↑ "Geographic Characteristic of The Republic of Armenia"(PDF). Marzes of the Republic of Armenia in Figures, 2002–2006. National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia. 2007. Archived(PDF) from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
↑ Rouben Paul Adalian (13 May 2010). Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press. p.85. ISBN978-0-8108-7450-3. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013. Although the mythology associated with the pagan worship of the mountain is now lost to popular belief, Mount Ararat has played a very ...
↑ James Minahan (1998). Miniature empires: a historical dictionary of the newly independent states. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.2–3. ISBN978-0-313-30610-5. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013. Mount Ararat, the legendary landing place of Noah's Ark, is located in what is now modern Turkey. Situated near the border, the peak is visible from nearly every area of Armenia. Historically, the mountain has been the Armenian people's most ...
↑ "Ancestry Data". U.S. Census Bureau. 2006. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2009. The 2001 Canadian CensusArchived 9 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine determined that there are 40,505 persons of Armenian ancestry currently living in Canada. However, these are liable to be low numbers, since people of mixed ancestry, very common in North America tend to be under-counted: the 1990 census US indicatesArchived 24 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine 149,694 people who speak the Armenian language at home. "The Armenian Embassy in Canada". Archived from the original on 26 August 2006. Retrieved 1 June 2016. estimates 1million ethnic Armenians in the US and 100,000 in Canada. The Armenian Church of America makes a similar estimate. By all accounts, over half of the Armenians in the United States live in California.
↑ "RFE/RL Caucasus Report". Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 7 January 2005. Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
↑ Turay, Anna. "Tarihte Ermeniler". Bolsohays:Istanbul Armenians Like many other ethnicities Armenians in India too have played a role historically and had an impact historically. Today however the community has been reduced to about a hundred living in Calcutta. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
↑ "The Transcaucasian Soviet Federation". Russian Review. 3 (24). Washington, D.C.: The Russian Information Bureau: 498. 15 December 1925. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
↑ Charles Dowsett, E. Peters. Sayat'-Nova. An 18th-century Troubadour: a Biographical and Literary Study. Peeters Publishers, 1997 ISBN90-6831-795-4; p. xv
↑ Hacikyan, Agop Jack; Basmajian, Gabriel; Franchuk, Edward S.; Ouzounian, Nourhan (2000). The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p.91. ISBN9780814328156.
The history of Armenia covers the topics related to the history of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the Armenian people, the Armenian language, and the regions of Eurasia historically and geographically considered Armenian.
Robert Sedraki Kocharyan is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second President of Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and as Prime Minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998.
Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh controlled parts of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, including its capital Stepanakert. It had been an enclave within Azerbaijan from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, when the Azerbaijani military took control over the remaining territory controlled by Artsakh. Its only overland access route to Armenia after the 2020 war was via the five kilometres (3.1 mi)–wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The Nagorno-Karabakh region was entirely claimed by and partially controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, but was recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan gradually re-established control over Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts.
Serzh Azati Sargsyan is an Armenian politician who served as the third President of Armenia from 2008 to 2018, and twice as the Prime Minister of Armenia from 2007 to 2008 and again from 17 to 23 April 2018, when he was forced to resign in the 2018 Armenian revolution.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey are officially non-existent and have historically been hostile. Whilst Turkey recognised Armenia shortly after the latter proclaimed independence in September 1991, the two countries have failed to establish diplomatic relations. In 1993, Turkey reacted to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh by closing its border with Armenia out of support for Azerbaijan.
United Armenia, also known as Greater Armenia or Great Armenia, is an Armenian ethno-nationalist irredentist concept referring to areas within the traditional Armenian homeland—the Armenian Highland—which are currently or have historically been mostly populated by Armenians. The idea of what Armenians see as unification of their historical lands was prevalent throughout the 20th century and has been advocated by individuals, various organizations and institutions, including the nationalist parties Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Heritage, the ASALA and others.
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two neighboring states had formal governmental relations between 1918 and 1921, during their brief independence from the collapsed Russian Empire, as the First Republic of Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan; these relations existed from the period after the Russian Revolution until they were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union, becoming the constituent republics of Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. Due to the five wars waged by the countries in the past century—one from 1918 to 1921, another from 1988 to 1994, and the most recent in 2016, 2020 and 2023—the two have had strained relations. In the wake of hostilities, social memory of Soviet-era cohabitation is widely repressed through censorship and stigmatization.
Bilateral relations between modern-day Armenia and the Russian Federation were established on 3 April 1992, though Russia has been an important actor in Armenia since the early 19th century. The two countries' historic relationship has its roots in the Russo-Persian War of 1826 to 1828 between the Russian Empire and Qajar Persia after which Eastern Armenia was ceded to Russia. Moreover, Russia was viewed as a protector of the Christian subjects in the Ottoman Empire, including the Armenians.
Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1998, which was shut down a year later for libel. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak from 1999 to 2012. A supporter of Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allies. Pashinyan was also critical of Armenia's close relations with Russia, and promoted establishing closer relations with Turkey instead. He led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.
Western Azerbaijan is an irredentist propaganda and revisionism concept that is used in the Republic of Azerbaijan mostly to refer to the territory of Armenia. Azerbaijani officials have falsely claimed that the territory of the modern Armenian republic were lands that once belonged to Azerbaijanis. Its claims are primarily hinged over the contention that the current Armenian territory was under the rule of various Turkic tribes, empires and khanates from the Late Middle Ages until the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) signed after the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828. The concept has received official endorsement by the government of Azerbaijan, and has been used by its current president, Ilham Aliyev, who, since around 2010, has made regular reference to "Irevan" (Yerevan), "Göyçə" and "Zangazur" (Syunik) as once and future "Azerbaijani lands". The irredentist concept of "Western Azerbaijan" is associated with other irredentist claims promoted by Azerbaijani officials and academics, including the "Goyche-Zangezur Republic" and the "Republic of Irevan."
Union for National Self-Determination is an Armenian political party. It was founded in 1987 by Paruyr Hayrikyan, a Soviet dissident seeking independence for Armenia.
The political status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained unresolved from its declaration of independence on 10 December 1991 to its September 2023 collapse. During Soviet times, it had been an ethnic Armenian autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a conflict arose between local Armenians who sought to have Nagorno-Karabakh join Armenia and local Azerbaijanis who opposed this.
Anti-Armenian sentiment or Armenophobia is widespread in Azerbaijan, mainly due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Armenians are "the most vulnerable group in Azerbaijan in the field of racism and racial discrimination." A 2012 opinion poll found that 91% of Azerbaijanis perceive Armenia as "the biggest enemy of Azerbaijan." The word "Armenian" (erməni) is widely used as an insult in Azerbaijan. Stereotypical opinions circulating in the mass media have their deep roots in the public consciousness.
Civil Contract is a centrist political party in Armenia. It has been the ruling party of Armenia since the 2018 Armenian parliamentary election, which occurred following the 2018 Armenian Revolution that brought the party's founder, Nikol Pashinyan, to power as prime minister.
The Armenia–Azerbaijan border is the international border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Estimates of the border's length vary from 996 km (619 mi) to 1,007.1 km (625.8 mi). European routes E002 and E117 cross the border.
The military forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a border conflict since 12 May 2021, when Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers into Armenia in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik. Despite international calls for withdrawal from the European Parliament, France, Iran, and the United States, Azerbaijan has maintained its presence on Armenian soil, occupying at least 215 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of internationally recognized Armenian territory. This occupation follows a pattern of Azerbaijan provoking cross-border fights and instigating ceasefire violations when its government is unhappy with the pace of negotiations with Armenia.
The Zangezur corridor is a concept for a transport corridor which, if implemented, would give Azerbaijan unimpeded access to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic without Armenian checkpoints via Armenia's Syunik Province and, in a broad sense, for the geopolitical corridor that would connect Turkey to the rest of the Turkic world thereby "uniting it". The concept was not part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement but was introduced to geopolitical lexicon later by Ilham Aliyev. It has since been promoted by Azerbaijan and Turkey, while Armenia has steadily objected to it, asserting that "corridor logic" deviates from the ceasefire statement, and that it is a form of propaganda.
On 19 September 2023, a series of protests began in Armenia following a military offensive launched by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in a swift Azerbaijani victory over the ethnic Armenian breakaway republic of Artsakh. The republic had been heavily backed by Armenia until a change in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's policy towards the region in recent years. The government of Azerbaijan compelled the separatist authorities in Artsakh to surrender, disband the Artsakh Defence Army and begin negotiations regarding their reintegration within Azerbaijan. In response, protests erupted in Armenia accusing Pashinyan of mismanaging the crisis and abandoning Artsakh, demanding that he step down. Pashinyan has characterized the protests as an attempt to unlawfully remove him from power.
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$64.432 billion [6] (114th)
27.9 [7] 
