Armenia

Armenia is located in the Transcaucasus and borders inter alia with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Christianity found its home in this country and it was the first State in the world which adopted it as religion. The country is full of history and has a beautiful, unusual landscape. But it has also experienced a lot of tragic situations like the killing of thousands of Armenians by Turkey, which is officially considered as genocide by Armenia and most Western countries.

In the late eighties, not only a strong earthquake led to a crisis situation. Months before, the conflict about the Nagornyj-Karabakh region had reached a peak and had forced more than 50.000 ethnic Armenians to flee their homes in Azerbaijan. Since then both countries are in a state of war. Of all three Transcaucasian Republics, Armenia appears to be closest to the Russian Federation.

It has the largest and most likely one of the most influential diaspora communities in the US and in France, which is still trying to support their home country whenever they can. However, the majority of Armenians are still struggling with their daily life. As many other countries, the world-wide crisis has also hit this small Caucasian country. Although Armenia has switched to small-scale agriculture and away from the large agro-industrial complexes of the Soviet era and tries to revive tourism, it is still mainly financed by international loans and donations.

The current situation in the country seems challenging and the war over Nagornyj-Karabakh is still like a sword of Damocles. After small signs of smoothing, the problems with Turkey seem to be again insurmountable. But despite of all these problems, Armenians are well known for their artistic talent and their humour to approach things from various sides. Well-known are jokes related to ‘Radio Erevan’, which even Western people might still remember.