ArdahanArdahan (tr; Արդահան; Erdêxan) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District. Its population is 22,927 (2021). Ardahan was historically located in the region of Gogarene (Gugark), which Strabo calls a part of the Armenia that was taken away from the Kingdom of Iberia. In the Middle Ages Ardahan served as an important transit point for goods arriving from the Abbasid Caliphate and departing to the regions around the Black Sea.
AshikAn ashik (aşıq, عاشؽق; âşık; عاشیق—all from عاشِق) or ashugh (աշուղ; აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as hikaye) or a shorter original composition—with a long-necked lute (usually a bağlama or saz) in Turkic (primarily Turkish and Azerbaijani cultures, including Iranian Azerbaijanis) and non-Turkic cultures of South Caucasus (primarily Armenian and Georgian).
DoğubayazıtDoğubayazıt (Bazîd, Պայազատ) is a town of Ağrı Province of Turkey, near the border with Iran. Its elevation is 1625 m. It is the seat of Doğubayazıt District. Its population is 80,061 (2021). Also known as Kurdava, the town was the capital of the self-declared Republic of Ararat, an independent Kurdish state centered in the Ağrı Province. For most of the periods described here, Doğubayazıt was a bigger and more important settlement than the present-day provincial capital Ağrı, not least because this is the Iranian border crossing.
KaskiansThe Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabalian Kasku and Gasga) were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontic Anatolia, known from Hittite sources. They lived in the mountainous region between the core Hittite region in eastern Anatolia and the Black Sea, and are cited as the reason that the later Hittite Empire never extended northward to that area. They are sometimes identified with the Caucones known from Greek records.
Aras (river)The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, finally, through Azerbaijan where it flows into the Kura river. It drains the south side of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains while the Kura drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus. The river's total length is and its watershed covers an area of .
GeorgiansThe Georgians, or Kartvelians (kʌrtˈvɛliənz; tr, ˈkhaɾthvelebi), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and European Union. Georgians arose from Colchian and Iberian civilizations of classical antiquity; Colchis was interconnected with the Hellenic world, whereas Iberia was influenced by the Persian Achaemenid Empire until Alexander the Great conquered it.
AramazdAramazd (Արամազդ) was the chief and creator god in the Armenian version of Zoroastrianism. The deity and his name were derived from the deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BC. Aramazd was regarded as a generous god of fertility, rain, and abundance, as well as the father of the other gods, including Anahit, Mihr, and Nane. Like Ahura Mazda, Aramazd was seen as the father of the other gods, rarely with a wife, though sometimes husband to Anahit or Spandaramet.
Coat of arms of ArmeniaThe national coat of arms of Armenia (Հայաստանի զինանշանը, Hayastani zinanshan) was adopted on April 19, 1992, by resolution of the Armenian Supreme Council. On June 15, 2006, the Armenian Parliament passed the law on the state coat of arms of Armenia. It consists of an eagle and a lion supporting a shield. The coat of arms combines new and old symbols. The eagle and lion are ancient Armenian symbols dating from the first Armenian kingdoms that existed prior to Christ. These symbols are found on the Armenian Highland from times immemorial.
Armavir ProvinceArmavir (Արմավիր, ɑɾmɑˈviɾ), is a province (marz) in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the town of Armavir while the largest city is Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin). The province shares a -long border with Turkey to the south and west. The province is home to the spiritual centre of the Armenian nation; the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Armenians in RussiaArmenians in Russia or Russian Armenians (Հայերը Ռուսաստանում; Армяне в России) are one of the country's largest ethnic minorities and the largest Armenian diaspora community outside Armenia. The 2010 Russian census recorded 1,182,388 Armenians in the country. Various figures estimate that the ethnic Armenian population in Russia is actually more than 2 million. Armenians populate various regions, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai in the North Caucasus and as far as Vladivostok in the East.
