Russian Orthodox Patriarch Visits Armenia

Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow has completed his second visit to Armenia as head of the Russian Orthodox Church. During his time in Armenia Patriarch Kirill met with Catholicos-Patriarch Karekin II (Nersessian) of the Armenian Orthodox Church and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian. He also participated in meetings with other Transcaucasian religious leaders and in a session of the Interreligious Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States. More here and here.

Armenia Considers Tax Breaks for Armenian Orthodox Church

The Armenian Parliament is considering legislation that would grant significant tax breaks to the Armenian Orthodox Church of Echmiadzin by exempting it from Armenia's property and land taxes. More here. Hat tip to The Orthodox Church website for posting this first!

Armenian PM Calls on Turkey to Establish Diplomatic Relations with Armenia

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian has called on Turkey to proceed with the implementation of a 2009 agreement to establish full diplomatic relations with Armenia and open their shared border. The Turkish government has refused to formally establish relations with Armenia despite the 2009 agreement on the grounds that Armenia and Artsakh must first resolve their conflict with Azerbaijan. More here.

Catholicos Aram Commemorates Victims of Battle of Sardarabad

On the last Sunday in May, following the Divine Liturgy, Catholicos Aram I (Keshishian) of the Armenian Orthodox Church of Cilicia celebrated a memorial for all the soldiers who died fighting to establish the first Republic of Armenia in the 1918 Battle of Sardarabad. More here.

Armenia Frees Opposition Leaders

The Armenian Parliament has approved a general amnesty that will free most members of opposition parties currently being detained in Armenia's jails. The move comes as part of a dialogue between Armenian President Serzh Sargsian and opposition movements in the country. More here.

Armenia Celebrates the Restoration of Its Independence

Armenia is celebrating Republic Day, this year marking the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian nation's restoration of its independence from the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the holiday was restored in free Armenia to celebrate its renewed independence from foreign occupation. More here.

Armenians in Turkey Not in Diaspora

Prominent Armenians living in Turkey have rejected the characterization of their community in the country as constituting a part of the Armenian Diaspora given that much of eastern Turkey was an integral part of Armenia proper prior to the Armenian Genocide. More here.

Armenian Orthodox Church Converted into Mosque in Turkey

Calls have been renewed for the protection of Armenian monuments, churches, and cultural artifacts in western Armenia (currently part of eastern Turkey), one of which in recent years was converted into a mosque. More here.

Armenia Seeks Ties with Turkey "Without Preconditions"

Armenian President Serzh Sargsian has reiterated his government's desire to establish normal diplomatic relations with neighboring Turkey "without preconditions." More here.

Georgia Criticized as Threat to Armenian Cultural Heritage

A noted Armenian artist has singled out Georgia as a greater threat to Armenia's cultural heritage outside its current borders than Turkey, saying that Turkey is obvious in its negative actions, whereas "Georgia acts in secret." More here.

Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide

This year Holy Pascha coincided with the feast day of the one and a half million martyrs of the Armenian Genocide. Consequently on Pascha Catholicos-Patriarch Karekin II (Nersessian) of Echmiadzin visited Yerevan's Genocide Memorial and celebrated a memorial for the Genocide's victims on the afternoon of Pascha. More on both the Paschal celebrations and the memorial can be found here and here.

Beware of Babo! ;-)

A day-long internet outage in Armenia last month was apparently caused by a 75-year old Georgian woman when she cut through a fiber-optic cable while searching for scrap copper. More here.

Armenian President Meets with Patriarch Irinej of Pech

During his state visit to Serbia President Serzh Sargsian of Armenia has met with Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovich) of Pech in the Serbian capital Belgrade. During the meeting the two discussed church life in Serbia and Armenia and President Sargsyan noted the role of Armenian peacekeepers in Kosovo in protecting its ancient churches and monasteries. More here.

Armenian President Greets Assyrians with New Year

Armenian President Serzh Serzh Sargsian has greeted his country's small Assyrian minority with their New Year, which began today. In addition to wishing them the best in the New Year, President Serzh Sargsian also wished that Armenia's Assyrians would see "new success and new achievements...so that the inheritors of the ancient and great Assyrian cultural heritage in Armenia not only preserve it, but also further develop and enrich their native tongue and culture." More here.

Swiss President Visits Echmiadzin

Yesterday Catholicos-Patriarch Karekin II (Nersessian) of Echmiadzin met with Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey at Holy Echmiadzin as part of the latter's visit to independent Armenia. During the course of the meeting Catholicos Karekin thanked Ms. Calmy-Rey for her efforts to improve relations between Armenia and Turkey as well as for Switzerland's recognition of the Armenian Genocide. More here.

Iranian Tourists Flock to Armenia During Nowruz

As Iranians worldwide begin celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, as many as 12,000 Iranians are planning to get away from the dreary pace of life in modern Iran and spend the holiday in nearby Armenia. More here.

Artsakh Rejects Azerbaijani Claims of a Ceasefire Violation

The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Artsakh has issued a statement rejecting Azerbaijani claims that the Artsakh Defense Army violated the ceasefire between the two states, saying that Azerbaijan is trying to escalate already high tensions between itself and Artsakh. Azerbaijan claims that the Defense Army recently killed an Azerbaijani soldier near the ceasefire zone between Azerbaijan and Artsakh. More here.

Azerbaijan's claims come as relations between Turkey and Armenia move towards normalizing and as Russia renews a push for a long-term peace agreement between Armenia, Artsakh, and Azerbaijan. Should Turkey and Armenia establish normal diplomatic relations the economic situation of both Armenia and Artsakh, an ethnically Armenian republic on the territory of the former Azerbaijani autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, would improve significantly.

Turkey Committed to Normalizing Relations with Free Armenia

Bulent Arinc, Turkey's deputy prime minister, has reaffirmed the Turkish government's commitment to normalizing relations with free Armenia, saying in part that, "Armenia has the following significance for us – once Armenians lived in these lands...many of them used to. There were Armenian ministers in the government....there were Armenian architects who built our palaces. All of them were the riches of this country. They left and we have been deprived of [this] wealth." More here.

Azerbaijan Renews Call for Armenian Withdrawal

Azerbaijan has renewed its call for Armenia to withdraw from its occupation of Azerbaijani territory. Since the conflict over Artsakh (formerly Nagorno-Karabkah) in the late 1980s and early 1990s the armed forces of Armenia and Artsakh have occupied roughly 20% of Azerbaijan's territory (that figure includes the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was an autonomous Armenian republic under Azerbaijan during the Soviet era). More here.

Assyrian Genocide Memorial Planned for Yerevan

With the support of the government of Yerevan the Assyrian community in Armenia hopes to erect an Assyrian Genocide memorial in the city in the near future. The Armenian and Assyrian Genocides were undertaken by the Turks and Kurds simultaneously during World War I and devastated both nations, wiping them out in most of their historic homelands and scattered most of the survivors across the globe. More here.