Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country, as its primate city. It has been the capital since 1918, the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese, which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.
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.
The Radio Yerevan jokes, also known as the Armenian Radio jokes, have been popular in the Soviet Union and other countries of the former Communist Eastern bloc since the second half of the 20th century. These jokes of the Q&A type pretended to come from the Question & Answer series of the Armenian Radio. A typical format of a joke was: "Radio Yerevan was asked," and "Radio Yerevan answered."
The Matenadaran, officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts.
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.
The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex is Armenia's official memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide, built in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan. Every year on 24 April, the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, thousands of Armenians gather at the memorial to commemorate the victims of the genocide. The people who gather in Tsiternakaberd lay fresh flowers out of respect for all the people who died in the Armenian genocide. Over the years, from around the world, a wide range of politicians, artists, musician, athletes, and religious figures have visited the memorial.
Armen Vardani Sarkissian is an Armenian politician, physicist and computer scientist who served as the 4th president of Armenia from 9 April 2018 to 1 February 2022. He served as Prime Minister of Armenia from 4 November 1996 to 20 March 1997 and was the country's longest-serving ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2018. Sarkissian was elected on 2 March 2018 and assumed the presidency on 9 April 2018. He resigned on 23 January 2022. Sarkissian gave a reason for his resignation saying that the country’s constitution does not give the president sufficient powers to influence events.
Republic Square is the central town square in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. It consists of two sections: an oval roundabout and a trapezoid-shaped section which contains a pool with musical fountains. The square is surrounded by five major buildings built in pink and yellow tuff in the neoclassical style with extensive use of Armenian motifs. This architectural ensemble includes the Government House, the History Museum and the National Gallery, Armenia Marriott Hotel and two buildings that formerly housed the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport and Communications. The square was originally designed by Alexander Tamanian in 1924. The construction of most of the buildings was completed by the 1950s; the last building—the National Gallery—was completed in 1977.
Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan is an Armenian politician who has been serving as the President of Artsakh since 2020. He was formerly the 1st State Minister from 2017 until his resignation in 2018 and 6th and last Prime Minister of the Republic of Artsakh from 2007 until its abolishment upon the adoption of a new constitution in 2017.
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.
Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex, also known as Demirchyan Arena, Sports & Music Complex, or simply Hamalir, is a large sports and concert complex with 184 stairs leading up Tsitsernakaberd hill which dominates over the western parts of Yerevan, near the Hrazdan River gorge.
Karen Vilhelmi Karapetyan is an Armenian politician who was Prime Minister of Armenia from September 2016 until April 2018. He was previously Mayor of Yerevan, the capital, from 2010 to 2011. He was appointed prime minister by President Serzh Sargsyan on 13 September 2016 and held office until 9 April 2018. Karapetyan served as first deputy prime minister from 17 April to 23 April 2018, when he was appointed acting prime minister following the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. He held this position until the election of Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister on 8 May 2018.
Dalma Garden Mall is an Armenian enclosed shopping mall. It is located near the Tsitsernakaberd hill in the Armenian capital Yerevan. It is the first mall in Armenia.
Various political and civil groups staged anti-government protests in Armenia in 2013. The first series of protests were held following the 2013 presidential election and were led by the former presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian. Hovannisian, who, according to official results, lost to incumbent Serzh Sargsyan, denounced the results claiming they were rigged. Starting on 19 February, Hovannisian and his supporters held mass rallies in Yerevan's Freedom Square and other cities. On 10 March, Hovannisian started a hunger strike, calling elected President Sargsyan to resign before 9 April, the inauguration day. Hovannisian called "for the solution of this unprecedented pan-national fundamental issue before April 9." During an interview on 18 March 2013, Sargsyan said he would not visit Hovannisian and described his claims as "arrogant phrases seasoned with obscenities". Sargsyan was inaugurated on 9 April 2013, while Hovannisian and thousands of people gathered in the streets of Yerevan to protest it, clashing with the police forces blocking the way to the Presidential Palace. Hovannisian's movement was dubbed "Barevolution", a portmanteau of barev and revolution, referring to Raffi Hovannisian's habit of walking up to people and greeting them during the election campaign.
The Gyumri massacre was a mass murder of seven members of the Armenian Avetisyan family in Gyumri, Armenia, on January 12, 2015. The suspect, Valery Permyakov, a Russian serviceman from the Russian 102nd Military Base, was apprehended by the Armenia-based Russian Border Guards near the border with Turkey and brought into custody at the Gyumri base for further investigation under the Russian jurisdiction. Spontaneous demonstrations in Gyumri and Yerevan ensued, demanding that Permyakov be tried and serve his sentence in Armenia. Perceived inadequate government response further triggered public outrage in Armenia in early 2015 following the incident. In August 2016, Permyakov was sentenced to life on charges of murder by an Armenian court; the court's ruling was upheld in December 2016 by the Appeals Court in Yerevan.
The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin, 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. Protests and marches took place initially in response to Serzh Sargsyan's third consecutive term as the most powerful figure in the government of Armenia and later against the Republican Party-controlled government in general. Pashinyan declared it a Velvet Revolution.
The European Party of Armenia is a pro-European political party in Armenia. It was founded on 6 November 2018 by film-maker Tigran Khzmalyan.
The 2020−2021 Armenian protests were a series of protests that began following the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement on 10 November 2020. After Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he signed an agreement to cede Armenian-occupied territories in Azerbaijan and put an end to six weeks of hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, thousands of people took to the streets, and hundreds stormed the Parliament building in the capital Yerevan. Protests continued throughout November, with demonstrations in Yerevan and other cities demanding the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan.
The 2022 Armenian protests were a series of anti government protests in Armenia that started on 5 April 2022. The protests continued into June 2022, and many protesters were detained by police in Yerevan. Protestors demanded Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan resign over his handling of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. On 14 June 2022, the opposition announced their decision to terminate daily demonstrations aimed at toppling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan after failing to achieve popular support.
