OFFICIAL NAME: Hayastan
CAPITAL CITY: Yerevan
POPULATION: 2,980,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 28,200 km²
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): Armenian, Azerbaijani, Russian
RELIGION: Armenian Christians 90%, others 10%
COIN: dram
CURRENCY CODE: AMD
ENGLISH NAME: Armenia
INDEPENDENCE: 1991
POPULATION COMPOSITION: Armenians 90%, Azerbaijani 5%, Russians 2%, Kurds 2%, others 1%
GDP PER residents: 1127 $ (2007)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 68 years, women 75 years (2007)
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.768
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 80
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .am
Armenia is a republic south of the Caucasus Mountains. Armenia was part of the USSR and the smallest of the Soviet republics; the country is a member of the CIS, the association of independent states. Armenia is also a natural geographical region, roughly similar to historic Armenia, which includes 300,000-400,000 km2 from eastern Turkey to the Caspian Sea.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each independent country and territory, such as AM which stands for Armenia.
Armenia – religion
Over 90% of Armenians are considered to belong to the Armenian Church. In the Soviet Union, this church, like others, was exposed to church closures, etc., but throughout the Soviet period it maintained a strong position in community life and mediated close cooperation with Armenian emigrant communities outside Armenia. Check youremailverifier for Armenia social condition facts.
Armenia – Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia is from 1995 with subsequent amendments. The executive power lies with the president, who is elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of five years, after which he can be re-elected once. The President appoints a Prime Minister and, on his recommendation, members of the Government; he also chairs government meetings. The Prime Minister and the Government must resign if the National Assembly refuses to accept their program. The National Assembly, Azgayin Zhogov, has 131 members elected for five-year terms; 90 are elected on party lists and 41 by direct election.
Armenia – architecture and visual arts
As in ancient Armenia (see Armenian art), in the present state great emphasis is placed on architecture. With the explosive growth of the capital Yerevan from village to million-dollar city over the course of two generations, urban planners and architects have had ample opportunity to work on both the urartic (see Urartu) as the ancient Armenian traditional material and unite it with Soviet monumentalism. The buildings are often built in the local, reddish tuff, which is easy to cut and therefore also used for building decorations, eg designed as pastiches over medieval reliefs. Historical events and people are depicted in the monumental sculpture – from David of Sassun (the hero of a medieval epic) to the victims of 1900’s massacres and the heroes of war or work.
The cultural openness of the Armenians has provided space for inspiration from both Western and Eastern art, in the painting in addition to the church traditions also romantic landscape and marine images by IK Ajvazovski (1817-1900) and V. Makhokian (1863-1937), symbolist and religiously inspired motifs with Y. Tadevosian (1870-1936) and G. Bashindjaghian (1857-1925) as well as impressionist landscapes and portraits of one of the most significant newer Armenian painters, MS Sarjan (1880-1972), who has his own museum in Yerevan.
In addition to a doctrinal social realism in the Soviet period, e.g. Yerevan’s museum of children’s art – a pioneer in its kind – that in art pedagogy there is also room for experiments and a more personal adaptation of old traditions, eg within the arts and crafts.
Armenia – literature
Cuneiform -inskriptioner from Urarturiget is the oldest written tradition. From pre-Christian times, a few hymns are known, eg the songs from Goghthn. Incidentally, the early Armenian literature is of Christian character, as the Armenians only got their alphabet in the early 400’s, after the introduction of Christianity. Therefore, the earliest literature consists largely of translations of the Bible and ancient church literature. The earliest known Armenian writer is Eznik (400-t.), Who wrote against heresies, including Hellenistic and Persian religion. Also female poets, Sandukht (700-t.), Gained importance.
Armenians’ opposition to the Arabs is sung in the great, popular epic David of Sassun, which has played a huge role in national consciousness. Another highlight in Armenian medieval literature is Gregor fra Nareks (approximately 945-1010) The Book of Lamentations. The learned monk Johannes (or Hov (h) annes) from Erznka wrote about grammar, astronomy, history and commerce. The first Armenian books were printed in Venice in the 16th century, and the first newspaper was published in the Indian city of Madras in 1794. Since then, Armenian literature has been published throughout the diaspora. Under Persian and Turkish rule, Armenian literature became a weapon in the struggle for freedom. A notable example is Sayat Nova (1722-95), whose real name is Arutiun Sajatian, who wrote poetry in the new literary language Ashkelon, in addition to Georgian and Azerbaijani. The founder of modern Armenian prose is Khachatur Abovian, who studied philology in Tartu (Estonia), and whose novel Armenia’s Wounds(1841-43) gained great literary and political significance. After the incorporation of Eastern Armenia into Russia in 1828, a number of writers made common cause with the radical Russian intelligentsia. Western Armenia had even more difficult conditions under Ottoman rule, as depicted by e.g. the satirist Hakop Baronian (1842-91). The novelist Raffi (1835-88) was highly valued by Georg Brandes. The female author Srbuhi Dussabe (1842-1901) portrayed the “Nora type” in her novels. During the Soviet era, 1922-91, the official Armenian literature received state support and widespread use in Russian translations. Prominent writers and poets such as Hovhannes Tumanian (1869-1923), Vahan Terian (1885-1920) and E. Kharents (1897-1937) sided with the Soviet regime. Others emigrated or became dissidents in the struggle for the uniqueness of language and culture. After the thaw, a new, non-ideological generation came to the fore. Here, Hrant Matevosian (b. 1935) became a central figure with his depictions of everyday life and of fundamental human conflicts. From the 1960’s, literature and theater became a semi-legal forum for debates and experiments. After the upheavals of the late 1980’s, Armenian literature was given full freedom – but in an impoverished and war-torn country. Armenian emigrants have in other languages given a greater world insight into the country’s culture, above all the American Armenian William Saroyan, who never wrote a word in Armenian. Available in DanishEske K. Mathiesen The fugitive nightingale. Repetitions of Armenian poetry (1977).
Armenia – music
Folk music was especially formerly characterized by dance songs (parerger), instrumental chain dances and traveling troubadours (ashugher). In Soviet times, state ensembles were also created, playing arranged folk music. Church music includes 1166 canonized hymns (sharakan). They were created in the 1500’s, but have much older roots. Among the country’s classical composers is A. Khatjaturjan.
