Yearbook 2000
Armenia. The entire government resigned when Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian was dismissed in May by President Robert Kotjarjan. The president accused the government of “political play” which made the country unstable and exacerbated the economic problems.
Andranik Markarian, leader of the Armenian Republican Party, was appointed new head of government. The new Prime Minister and the President promised to end the conflicts between the two offices and their contradictions with Parliament. Markarian also said he would like to fight the widespread corruption. He also promised to deal with unemployment and poverty. According to some estimates, more than a third of the residents were unemployed. Markarians financial plan included doubled pensions and salaries for government employees over a three-year period. However, the Government’s hopes of a 6% GDP growth during the year did not seem to be met. Armenia’s economy is plagued by large sums going to the military conflict with Azerbaijan over the Armenian breakaway climax Nagorno-Karabakh.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Offers three letter and two letter abbreviations for the country of Armenia. Also covers country profile such as geography, society and economy.
September
Extensive fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh
September 27
The government introduces martial law and orders military mobilization after fighting broke out between Armenian separatists and the Azerbaijani military in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is in Azerbaijan but controlled by Armenia. Both sides accuse each other of having started the fighting and of attacking areas with civilians. The outside world calls for reflection, but the fighting continues and after four days has claimed the lives of around 100 people on the Armenian side, of which just under a fifth are civilians. Azerbaijan reports no losses. Armenia accuses Turkey of interfering in the conflict on Azerbaijan’s side and of shooting down an Armenian plane, which Turkey denies. The fighting is the most serious confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2016.
Population 2000
According to COUNTRYAAH, the population of Armenia in 2000 was 3,069,480, ranking number 133 in the world. The population growth rate was -0.940% yearly, and the population density was 107.8184 people per km2.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
State of Transcaucasia. According to an estimate by the United Nations, between 1990 and 2000 the population recorded a sharp decrease (- 1, 2 % per year), which was attenuated in the first years of the 21st century. (- 0.4 %), settling around 3,000,000 residents (2005), for two thirds resident in urban areas and for about 40 % in the capital, Yerevan. Over 300 since the mid-1990s. 000 people of Armenian language and culture from Azerbaijan took refuge in the territory of the Armenia following the serious tensions that arose between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabah question, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory. For the same reason, most of the Azeris who resided in Armenia, forming the main minority, returned to their country of origin, so that Armenia it has become more ethnically homogeneous: the only alloglot groups of a certain consistency are the Kurdish and the Russian. However, many Armenians live outside the country, as a consequence of the historical diaspora that during the 19th and 20th centuries. it has created large communities, especially in neighboring Georgia, the United States, France and Russia; according to Second Armenia-Diaspora Conference of 2002 there are about 10 million Armenians around the world. These communities, which are often very prosperous economically, maintain contacts with the motherland and provide it with substantial economic aid.
The living conditions in Armenia on the whole are satisfactory, as shown by the human and social indicators, clearly better than in the other two Transcaucasian republics and not far from those of the Eastern European countries. However, according to international organizations, around half of the population still lives below the poverty line and the unemployment rate remains high.
In the early 21st century. the economic situation of the country seems to have stabilized, and are positive most indicators, including the GDP (+ 6 % in 2000, + 12, 9 % in 2002, + 13, 9 % in 2003) and the fiscal deficit (in significant decrease). These good results are also due not only to internal factors but also to aid from emigrants and the support of Russian capital, whose penetration has maintained a sustained pace. In 2004 an important agreement was signed with Irān, envisages the construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries, thus ensuring the Armenia a peaceful energy future, as international pressures have increased to close the Metsamor nuclear power plant, considered unsafe by neighboring countries due to the obsolescence of the plants.