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Armenia country profile

20 December 2018

A landlocked country with Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, and
Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia boasts a history longer than most European
countries.

Aer independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia quickly became
drawn into a bloody conflict with Azerbaijan over the mainly Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

One of the earliest Christian civilisations, Armenia's first churches were

founded in the fourth century. In later centuries, it frequently oscillated
between Byzantine, Persian, Mongol or Turkish control, as well as periods of
independence.

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Read more country profiles - Profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

The Republic of Armenia

Capital: Yerevan

Population 3.1m
Area 29,743 sq km (11,484 sq miles)
Major languages Armenian, Russian
Major religion Christianity
Life expectancy 71 years (men), 77 years (women)
Main exports Diamonds, machinery, foodstuffs
UN, World Bank

Prime minister: Nikol Pashinyan

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Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan was elected as prime minister by

parliament in May 2018 aer he spearheaded weeks of mass protests against
the ruling party, transforming the country's political landscape.

He had piled pressure on the ruling Republican Party through an

unprecedented campaign of civil disobedience, leading to the shock
resignation of veteran leader Serzh Sargsyan, a week aer he shied to the
newly-empowered role of prime minister aer serving for 10 years as
president.

In December 2018 he called a snap election to remove the Republican Party

majority in parliament, and his My Step Alliance won an overwhelming
majority. The Republicans won no seats.

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Mr Pashinyan promised to maintain Armenia's strategic alliance with Russia,

whose president, Vladimir Putin, sent his congratulations.

President: Armen Sargsyan

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President Sargsyan is a largely ceremonial figure

Armen Sargsyan was elected president in March 2018, when the country
moved from a presidential system of government to a parliamentary one.

He briefly served as prime minister from November 1996 to March 1997

between stints as ambassador to the UK and other diplomatic posts in Europe.

Voters in a 2015 referendum backed constitutional changes reducing the

powers of the president in favour of the premiership, which critics saw as a
ruse to allow outgoing president Serzh Sargsyan to continue to rule as prime
minister.

Serzh Sargsyan duly became prime minister on the expiry of his second term
as president in April 2018, but sparked the largest street protests Armenia has
seen for years. He resigned aer several days of unrest.

The political changes in 2018 had a profound effect on the media, with the
main TV stations becoming largely free of state control.

But the media remain prone to political polarisation and a lack of financial
independence.

TV is the leading medium, although less so among younger audiences.

The internet is a forum for political debate. Facebook is the top social
platform.

Read full media profile

Some key events in Armenia's history:

1915 - 1917 - Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians are massacred or
deported from their homeland in Anatolia to present-day Syria. Armenia

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considers the killings genocide, a charge Turkey does not accept.

1918 - Independent Armenia emerges from defeat of Ottoman Empire in

World War I.

1922 - Armenia is incorporated into the Soviet Union.

1989 - Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh begins. In 1994 a Russian-brokered

ceasefire but no peace deal is reached and intermittent fighting continues.

1991 - Armenia secedes from the Soviet Union.

2009 - Armenia and Turkey agree on a provisional roadmap for normalising

diplomatic ties, but subsequently fail to ratify the deal.

2015 - Armenia officially joins the Russian-led Eurasian Customs Union,

having decided against signing a EU Association Agreement.

2018 - Long-standing Republican Party rules ends aer mass protests.

Read full timeline

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Mount Ararat is an Armenian national symbol. It lies tantalisingly close but cruelly distant, just beyond the country's
borders

Related Topics

Armenia

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