Armenia’s City of Etchmiadzin is marking its 2698th anniversary on Tuesday.

In the morning, ruling Republican Party MPs Manvel Grigoryan and Sedrak Saroyan as well as members of the Armenian clergy placed flowers to the memorial of the freedom fighters.  

To note, Urartian king Rusa II’s record dating back to 685 BC, and where Etchmiadzin is represented as an inhabitation, was accepted as the basis for the city’s anniversary.

“But the city is older; 5,000 years and more,” stated Etchmiadzin Mayor Karen Grigoryan.