Armenia's True Size Debated in National Assembly: 29,800 or 29,743 sq km?
Ruling and opposition lawmakers in Armenia's National Assembly continue to debate the country's exact territorial size. The core of the dispute centers around two figures: 29,800 and 29,743 square kilometers. This discrepancy has emerged as politicians cite differing historical and official sources.
During the sessions of the 9th convocation of the National Assembly, deputies from the "Armenia" opposition faction raised the issue of whether the Tigranashen settlement is included in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Opposition lawmaker Artur Khachatryan asked Arusyak Julhakyan from the ruling "Civil Contract" faction where the conditional 57 sq km had disappeared to. Khachatryan referenced the 1980 Soviet Encyclopedia, which lists the figure at 29,800 sq km.
Shifts in Discourse and Figures
In response to the opposition, Arusyak Julhakyan stated: "In our textbooks—not in the Soviet Encyclopedia, but in the textbooks of the independent Republic of Armenia... the number 29,743 sq km is specified." It was also recalled that initially, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also used the metric containing the number 800. For example, on June 1, 2023, in Chisinau, Pashinyan declared that the Artsvashen exclave is included within the 29,800 sq km.
The official rhetoric changed after a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels on May 14, 2023. On March 12, 2024, Pashinyan clarified that an agreement was reached to rely on data from Soviet encyclopedias. Although the title page showed the rounded number 29,800, the text itself contained the figure 29,743. It was also noted that for decades, official state websites of Armenia have used 29,743 sq km.
What School Textbooks Say
A review of school textbooks reveals that a single, unified number has not been consistently applied, and both figures can be found:
- "Geography of Armenia" for the 9th grade, published in 2014: 29,743 sq km,
- "Geography" for the 8th grade, published in 2014: 29.8 thousand sq km,
- "Geography" textbook for the 10th grade, published in 2017: 29.8 thousand sq km,
- "Geography of Armenia" textbook for the 9th grade, published in 2025: 29,743 sq km.
It is noted that these textbooks are based on earlier statistical and official sources and are not considered primary base documents.
This article was generated automatically using AI based on reporting from established news sources. All sources are listed below.
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