Mount Ararat (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı; Armenian: Արարատ; Kurdish: Grîdax or Çiyayê Agirî) is the tallest peak in the Armenian Highlands and modern-day Turkey. The mountain is always capped with snow, and it is a dormant volcano.
It is in Iğdır Province, near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of Iran and 32 km south of the Armenian border and Northern Kurdistan.
The last eruption of the volcano took place in 1840. It destroyed the village of Ahora on the northeast side.
Even though Ararat is located in Turkey today, it is the national symbol of the Armenians, most of whom had their settlement area around Ararat in the six Armenian Eastern Provinces in the Ottoman Empire until the Armenian Genocide in 1915. It was on the national coat of arms of the Armenian SSR and is also on the coat of arms of Armenia. Turkey protested, saying that the mountain was on Turkish territory and therefore should not be appropriated by Armenia or the Soviet Union. Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko later countered by pointing out that, in contrast, Turkey flies the moon as a crescent in its flag, although neither the moon nor any part of it belongs to Turkey.
