Armenian Prime Minister's visit to Isfahan

Iran (IMNA) – "This trip can help both sides to develop mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships; certainly, wider dimensions of cooperation between the two countries will be flourished," Nikol Pashinyan said.

Nikol Pashinyan visited Naghsh-e Jahan square and Imam Mosque on his first coming into the city. Masoud Nik Ayin, the Director General of Protocol Department of Isfahan governorate, provided the prime minister of Armenia and his delegation with details about Isfahan's tourist attractions and the history of ancient monuments in the city. Pashiniyan also visited the Vank Cathedral and its museum, then he went to Ararat sport club to meet the Armenians living in Isfahan.

There is an Armenian quarter in Isfahan that was established during the Safavid era by Shah Abbas I, who transported a colony of Armenian from the town of Julfa, situated at Iran’s northern border, to the suburb of Isfahan on the Southern bank of "Zayandeh Rud" river and named the region ‘New Julfa’. The Armenian colony who escaped the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks took up residence in Isfahan.

They settled into their new home and grew very successfully; Armenians quickly started their cultural and economic activities, and now they have obtained important status as a religious, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic minority in Iran.

Julfa neighborhood includes beautiful cobblestone pavements and streets, historic bath houses, caravansaries, old churches and a charming square. Iravanian and Tabrizi districts are the only regions in Isfahan that are still remained as Armenian quarters.

Immigrant Armenians had a great and truly undeniable influence on Iranian culture, specifically during the modernization of the country. Even today, Iran and Armenia have so much in common, both historically and culturally, due to the thousand years of strong relationship.

By: Elahe Seyfodin