This program is named for the Armenian holiday that commemorates the battle of Avarayr which was waged in A.D. 451 by the Armenian general Vardan Mamikonian and his compatriots against Persian troops who had been sent by the King of Kings to reimpose Zoroastrianism on the Christian state. Though chiefly a religious holiday, it celebrates as well Armenia’s retention of its essence in the face of its millennia-long struggles against forces of assimilation.

Levon Avdoyan, Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist
“Armenia 2001-2003, Area Studies,
September 11, 2001, in the Library of Congress"

Michael C. Lemmon
U.S. Ambassador the Republic of Armenia (1998-2001)
Dean of the School of Language Studies
Foreign Service Institute

“Reflections on Armenia’s Place in the Region and in the World”