Armenia

Armenia prides itself on being the first state to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Armenia has existed as a political entity for centuries with varying geographical boundaries and differing levels of political independence, but for much of its history it was under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire instituted a policy of forced resettlement coupled with other harsh practices targeting its Armenian subjects, especially those living in the eastern provinces of Anatolia, that resulted in at least 1 million Armenian deaths; these actions have been widely recognized as constituting genocide.

During the early 19 th century, significant Armenian populations fell under Russian rule as a result of Russian military successes against the Persian (1813) and Ottoman (1828) empires. After the Bolshevik Revolution toppled the last Russian tsar in 1917, Armenia declared its independence in 1918, but was conquered by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Armenia, along with Azerbaijan and Georgia, was initially incorporated into the USSR as part of the Transcaucasian Federated Soviet Socialist Republic; in 1936, the federated republic was separated into its three constituent entities, which were maintained until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Armenia has a longstanding conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan about the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region historically had a mixed Armenian and Azerbaijani population, although ethnic Armenians have constituted the majority since the late 19 th century. In 1921, Moscow placed Nagorno-Karabakh within Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous oblast, a decision that Armenian political leaders and the public repeatedly sought to alter through petitions and complaints, starting in the 1930s.

In the late Soviet period, a separatist movement developed that sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a cease-fire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. constituting a total of 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s overall territory.

Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in a second military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in September-November 2020, as a result of which Armenia lost control over much of the territory it had captured a quarter-century earlier. Under the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed in November 2020, Armenia returned the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh and some parts of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and accepted the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the remainder of the region.

Armenia’s only remaining territorial connection to Nagorno-Karabakh after 2020 was through the five-kilometer wide Lacin Corridor, which passed through Azerbaijani-held territory and was under the control of Russian peacekeepers.

Turkey closed its common border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during the first period of conflict with Armenia and has maintained a closed border since then, leaving Armenia with closed borders both in the west (with Turkey) and east (with Azerbaijan). Armenia and Turkey engaged in intensive diplomacy to normalize their relations and open the border in 2009, but the signed agreement was not ratified in either country and became a dead letter in 2018, when Armenia officially withdrew its signature.

In 2015, Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union alongside Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In November 2017, Armenia signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU.

In spring 2018, former President of Armenia (2008-18) Serzh SARGSIAN of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) tried to extend his time in power by becoming prime minister, prompting popular protests that became known as the “Velvet Revolution.” After SARGSIAN resigned, the leader of the protests, Civil Contract party chief Nikol PASHINYAN, was elected by the National Assembly as the new prime minister on 8 May 2018. PASHINYAN’s party has prevailed in subsequent legislative elections, most recently in June 2021.

Armenia’s population peaked at nearly 3.7 million in the late 1980s but has declined sharply since independence in 1991, to just over 3 million in 2021, largely as a result of its decreasing fertility rate, increasing death rate, and negative net emigration rate. The total fertility rate (the average number of children born per woman) first fell below the 2.1 replacement level in the late 1990s and has hovered around 1.6-1.65 for over 15 years.

In an effort to increase the country’s birth rate, the government has expanded its child benefits, including a substantial increase in the lump sum payment for having a first and second child and a boost in the monthly payment to mothers of children under two. Reversing net negative migration, however, remains the biggest obstacle to stabilizing or increasing population growth. Emigration causes Armenia not only lose individuals but also the children they might have.

The emigration of a significant number of working-age people combined with decreased fertility and increased life expectancy is causing the elderly share of Armenia’s population to grow. The growing elderly population will put increasing pressure on the government’s ability to fund the pension system, health care, and other services for seniors.

Improving education, creating more jobs (particularly in the formal sector), promoting labor market participation, and increasing productivity would mitigate the financial impact of supporting a growing elderly population.

Armenia has a long history of migration, some forced and some voluntary. Its large diaspora is diverse and dispersed around the world. Widely varying estimates suggest the Armenian diaspora may number anywhere from 5-9 million, easily outnumbering the number of Armenians living in Armenia.

Armenians forged communities abroad from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to Russia and to the Americas, where they excelled as craftsmen, merchants, and in other occupations.

Several waves of Armenian migration occurred in the 20 th century. In the aftermath of the 1915 Armenian genocide, hundreds of thousands of survivors fled to communities in the Caucasus (including present day Armenia), Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Europe, and Russia and established new communities in Africa and the Americas.

In the 1930s, the Soviets deported thousands of Armenians to Siberia and Central Asia. After World War II, the Soviets encouraged the Armenian diaspora in France, the Middle East, and Iran to return the Armenian homeland in order to encourage population growth after significant losses in the male workforce during the war.

Following Armenian independence in 1991, the economic downturn and high unemployment prompted hundreds of thousands of Armenians to seek better economic opportunities primarily in Russia but also in the US, former Soviet states, and Europe. In the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Armenians fled from Azerbaijan to Armenia because of the ongoing Nagorno-Karbakh conflict, but many of them then emigrated again, mainly to Russia and the US. When the economy became more stable in the late 1990s, permanent emigration slowed, but Armenians continued to seek temporary seasonal work in Russia. The remittances families receive from relatives working abroad is vital to Armenian households and the country’s economy.

party to:

Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants

chief of state:

President Vahagn KHACHATURYAN (since 13 March 2022)

head of government:

• Prime Minister Nikol PASHINYAN (since 10 September 2021);
• Deputy Prime Ministers Mher GRIGORYAN (since 3 August 2021) and Tigran KHACHATRYAN (since 19 December 2022);
• note - Prime Minister Nikol PASHINYAN resigned on 25 April 2021 in advance of the 20 June 2021 parliamentary election;
• he was reappointed by the president on 2 August 2021 and sworn in on 10 September 2021

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

elections/appointments:

• president indirectly elected by the National Assembly in 3 rounds if needed for a single 7-year term;
• election last held on 2-3 March 2022;
• prime minister indirectly elected by majority vote in 2 rounds if needed by the National Assembly

election results:

2022: Vahagn KHACHATURYAN elected president in second round; note - Vahagn KHACHATURYAN ran unopposed and won the Assembly vote 71-0; 2018: Armen SARKISSIAN elected president in first round; note - Armen SARKISSIAN ran unopposed and won the Assembly vote 90-10

note: Nikol PASHINYAN was first elected prime minister on 8 May 2018 and reelected on January 2019; in response to a political crisis that followed Armenia's defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in late 2020, PASHINYAN called an early legislative election for June 2021;

his party won the election and PASHINYAN was elected to the prime ministership for a third time; his election was confirmed by the president on 2 August 2021, and he was sworn in on 10 September 2021

• 18-27 for voluntary (men and women), contract (men and women) or compulsory (men) military service;
• contract military service is 3-12 months or 3 or 5 years;
• conscripts serve 24 months;
• men under the age of 36, who have not previously served as contract servicemen and are registered in the reserve, as well as women, regardless of whether they are registered in the reserve can be enrolled in contractual military service;
• all citizens aged 27 to 50 are registered in the military reserve and may be called to serve if mobilization is declared (2023)

note: in 2023, Armenia approved six-month voluntary service for women, after which they have the option to switch to a five-year contract; previously, women served on a contract basis

note 2: as of 2021, conscripts comprised about half of the military's active personnel; as of 2020, women made up about 10% of the active duty military;

the Armenian Army established its first all-women combat unit in 2020

the Armenian Armed Forces were officially established in 1992, although their origins go back to 1918; the modern military’s missions include deterrence, territorial defense, crisis management, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response, as well as socio-economic development projects;

territorial defense is its primary focus, particularly in regards to tensions with neighboring Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region; Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in open conflicts over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in 1991-94 and 2020, plus a brief flare-up in 2016; tensions continued following the 2020 conflict; Azerbaijan seized the entire enclave in 2023

the bulk of the Armenian military’s ground combat forces are organized into five small corps that are typically comprised of one or more Soviet-style “motorized rifle” (mechanized infantry) regiments, plus supporting units of artillery, reconnaissance, and tank forces; there are also separate artillery, air defense, battlefield rockets, and special operations forces;

four of the five corps are typically deployed along the border with Azerbaijan with the fifth deployed along the border with Turkey; the ground forces also have a peacekeeping brigade; the air combat forces consist of small numbers of Soviet-era ground attack aircraft and attack helicopters; Armenia is landlocked so it has no naval forces

Armenia has close military ties with Russia and hosts Russian military forces at two bases, as well as Russian border guards along multiple border areas; it has been a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) since 1994 and committed troops to CSTO's rapid reaction force;

Armenia has relations with NATO going back to 1992 when Armenia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council; in 1994, it joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and has contributed to the NATO force in Kosovo, as well as the former NATO deployment in Afghanistan (2023)