Republic of Armenia
Armenia, 1991 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Armenia is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. Armenia supported the once de facto independent Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which had seceded from Azerbaijan in 1991, until Azerbaijan reincorporated the region through a siege and military offensive in 2023.
Seat of power: Yerevan
Rulers
Levon Ter-Petrosyan
President of Armenia, 1991–1998
Ter-Petrosyan was elected by a landslide as the country's first president in the 1991 Armenian presidential election. In his role as a head of state, he led the country through the First Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring Azerbaijan. Due to disagreements with key members of his government over a peace proposal for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially Defence Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan, Ter-Petrosyan resigned on 3 February 1998.
Portrait of Levon Ter-Petrosyan: Satanik, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Robert Kocharyan
President of Armenia, 1998–2008
He served as the second President of Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and as Prime Minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998. Kocharyan was elected president of Armenia twice, in 1998 and 2003; both presidential elections were held in two rounds. During most of his presidency, between 2001 and 2007, Armenia's economy grew on average by 12% annually, largely due to a construction boom.
Portrait of Robert Kocharyan: Hasmiktergulanyan12, CC0, file
Serzh Sargsyan
President of Armenia, 2008–2018
Sargsyan served as the third President of Armenia from 2008 to 2018. He won the February 2008 presidential election and took office in April 2008. On 18 February 2013, he was re-elected as president and served the entire term.
Portrait of Serzh Sargsyan: Пресс-служба Президента Армении, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Armen Sarkissian
President of Armenia, 2018–2022
He was the 4th president of Armenia from 2018 to 2022. He was the first president of post-Soviet Armenia born in the former Armenian SSR.
Portrait of Armen Sarkissian: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Armenia, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Vahagn Khachatryan
President of Armenia, 2022 to today
He has served as the fifth and current president of Armenia since 2022. He was elected president by the Armenian parliament in the second round of voting. He was inaugurated on 13 March 2022.
Portrait of Vahagn Khachatryan: The Office of the President of the Republic of Armenia, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Alen Simonyan
President of Armenia, 2022–2022
He served as the acting president of Armenia from 1 February 2022 to 13 March 2022.
Portrait of Alen Simonyan: Пресс-служба Президента Армении, CC BY-SA 3.0, file
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Culture
- In AD 301 the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion.
- Armenia still recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment.
- During World War I, up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated in the Armenian genocide.
Picture
Mount Ararat lies outside the borders of modern Armenia, but the mountain is the principal national symbol of Armenia.
Image: Սէրուժ Ուրիշեան (Serouj Ourishian), CC BY 4.0, file
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Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.