The Armenian presence within the geographical area of the Ottoman Empire is a very ancient one. In reality the area that eventually became the Ottoman Empire contained the lands of ancient Armenian royal dynasties, from antiquity to the Middle Ages. These regions are mostly included in present-day Turkey’s eastern provinces – and today’s Republic...
Georgian Princes of Armenian origin
Searching for Armenian nobility I stumbled upon a Georgian website about the Genealogy of Georgian Surnames. Looking through I saw a list of Georgian Princes and a description of their origin. Despite the restrictions to read full texts without payment, it is visible that many of these Georgian princes and their surnames originated in...
Western Armenian flag has been approved!
According to the Declaration of the National Council of Western Armenia (December 17, 2004), Western Armenia should have its own flag, anthem and coat of arms. On this basis, the National Council approved the flag of Western Armenia. I’ve created a vector version that I’m releasing under creative commons. Everyone who wants to use...
Muslim Turks convert to Armenian Orthodoxy upon discovering Armenian roots
The Surp Giragos Church was blessed on Oct. 22 in accordance with the traditions of the Apostolic Armenian Church. DHA photo A group of Armenians, raised as Sunni Muslims, will be baptized today as Armenian Orthodox christians at the historic St. Giragos (Surp Giragos) Armenian Church in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The church,...
Armenia Offers Aid To Quake-Stricken Turkey
President Serzh Sarkisian reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to send rescuers to earthquake-stricken Turkey on Monday as he and Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev jointly spoke to their Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul by phone during talks in Moscow. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the southeastern Turkish city of Van and surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon, killing at...
Armenians of Byzantium (part 1)
A little history of Armenian contribution to Byzantine Empire. Due to centuries of foreign domination, much of Armenian history has been neglected and surprised. As such much of the influence Armenians had on the Byzantine empire has been swept under the rug by the Ottomans and later the Soviets. Nevertheless the contributions of Armenian...
The First Bishop of Holland came from Armenia
This is a sculpture of Saint Servatius. Saint Servatius (Dutch: Sint Servaas; French: Saint Servais) (traditionally died 384) was bishop of Tongeren—Roman Atuatuca Tungrorum the capital of the Tungri—one of the earliest dioceses in the Netherlands. Later in his life he fled to Maastricht, Roman Mosae Trajectum, where he became the first bishop of...
Cradle of Medieval Architecture
A sad report from National Geographic Daily News published in October 23, 2010, exactly a year from now. Still nothing has changed to improve the situation. Photograph by Umit Bektas, Reuters Damaged frescoes in the Church of St. Gregory of Tigran Honents tell a story of neglect in the medieval city of Ani, now...
