republic in the Transcaucasia region of western Asia, bordered by Georgia on the north, Azerbaijan on the east, and Turkey on the west and south. The Azerbaijani enclave of Naxçivan (Nakhichevan') also forms part of its southern boundary. Formerly a republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Armenia became independent in 1991. It is an extremely mountainous country with a limited amount of arable land. Population is concentrated in river valleys, especially along the Hrazdan River, where Yerevan, the capital and largest city, is located.
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Population
The population of Armenia-estimated in 1996 at 3,463,574-is characterized by a high degree of ethnic homogeneity. Armenians constitute more than 90 percent of the republic's population, a proportion that increased considerably in recent years with the departure of Azeris and the influx of Armenian refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan, because of the conflict in that region. Kurds and Russians are the next two most populous ethnic groups in the republic, but they each comprise only about 1.5 percent of Armenia's total population. Small numbers of Ukrainians, Georgians, and Greeks also live in the republic.
Armenia is highly urbanized, with more than two-thirds of all residents living in cities or towns. The largest city is Yerevan. The next most populous city is Gyumri (formerly Leninakan, also known as Kumari)..
The official language of Armenia is Armenian, an Indo-European language with a distinct 38-letter alphabet. Russian is also commonly spoken. The vast majority of the population is Christian. The Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) Church is the most popular among Armenians. Russian Orthodoxy and Shiite Islam are also practiced.
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History
Armenia is one of the earliest sites of human civilization. It is considered by some specialists to be one of the first areas of iron and bronze smelting, and some cereal grains, such as rye, may also have been first developed here. For most of its history, Armenia was controlled or occupied by external powers, including Assyrians, Persians, Romans, Mongols, Ottomans, and Russians. Independent Armenian states existed for short periods of time in the past, the most extensive of which existed under the Armenian king Tigranes the Great. Under Tigranes, Armenian-controlled territory stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean and parts of modern-day Syria. This period of independence ended in 69 BC with the invasion of the Romans. Armenia later became the first Christian state in the history of the world in AD 301.
Armenia suffered from extremely harsh treatment by foreign powers several times during its history. The invasion of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century resulted in the first large-scale emigration of Armenians. Other periods of emigration followed, especially during the late 19th century, when Armenians were persecuted by Russian and Ottoman leaders for agitating for political reforms. Between 1894 and 1896, hundreds of thousands of Armenians were systematically massacred by Turkish forces. The Russian government, although not as repressive as the Ottoman government, closed Armenian schools and ordered the confiscation of church property. Even larger massacres occurred during the 20th century as the Ottoman government of the Young Turk era (1908-1918) sought to move Armenians to Mesopotamia. Between 1915 and 1923 more than 1 million people were estimated to have died from the Turkish action.
In 1918 Armenia declared itself an independent state after the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation with Georgia and Azerbaijan collapsed. In 1922 Armenia was incorporated into the USSR as part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. In 1936 Armenia became a separate Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR. (For the history of Armenia between 1936 and 1991, see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: History.)
In the late 1980s popular unrest demonstrated the desire for Armenian independence, despite half a century of Soviet rule. Under Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, Armenians took advantage of the policy of glasnost' (Russian for "openness") to publicly decry the state of the environment and rally for the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. A 1988 earthquake in Armenia killed 25,000 people and left more than 400,000 homeless. In 1989 the Armenian Supreme Soviet declared Nagorno-Karbakh part of Armenia and proclaimed the sovereignty of the republic of Armenia. In September 1991 Armenian residents voted overwhelmingly to secede from the USSR, and the Supreme Soviet declared Armenia a completely independent state in the same month. In October 1991 Levon Ter-Petrosyan, formerly chairman of the Armenian Supreme Soviet, became the first popularly elected president of the new republic. Armenia became a member of the United Nations (UN) in 1992.
Political tension in the country increased sharply in the first years after Armenian independence. Difficulties presented by the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the economic blockade of Armenia by Azerbaijan resulted in an increase in political opposition to the government. The ruling party, the Armenian National Movement, which promotes a moderate program of economic reform and territorial delimitation, was challenged by a wide array of political parties. The foremost was the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), which has been in existence for more than a 100 years and was the ruling party during Armenia's brief period of independence from 1918 to 1922. The ARF, which exerts a great degree of control over Armenian military forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, rejects economic market reforms and advocates closer ties with Russia. In December 1994 Ter-Petrosyan suspended the ARF from the parliament, accusing the organization of terrorism, drug trafficking, and political killings.
In 1993 Armenian forces defeated the Azerbaijani army in several confrontations, which led to Armenian control of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas. In 1994 Azerbaijan began a new push against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, but these new offensives generated very few results other than a high number of casualties and refugees. Since 1988 an estimated one million people had fled the region. Several cease-fire agreements reached in early 1994 failed to hold. Following protracted mediation by Russia and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a new agreement was reached in May 1994. Although some minor violations occurred, the agreement was formalized in July. Despite ongoing negotiations over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the issue remained unresolved as of mid-1997.
In early 1995 the Armenian parliament began working on the ratification of the country's new constitution. In July of that year Armenia held its first legislative elections as an independent country. The Republican bloc, of which the ruling Armenian National Movement is the dominant member, won a decisive victory to claim the majority of seats. The elections were monitored for fairness by the OSCE but were criticized by members of a number of opposition parties, which had been barred from participating. In a constitutional referendum held at the same time, more than two-thirds of the participating voters approved Armenia's new constitution. In the presidential election of September 1996, Ter-Petrosyan was reelected to a second term amid widespread allegations of vote fraud. Popular protests of the election results escalated into violent clashes with police, followed by a crackdown on the political opposition.
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"Armenia," Microsoft ® Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.
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