Armenian-Language .հայ Domain Launched in Yerevan

YEREVAN (Arka) — Armenia’s ministry of transportation and communications has officially launched today the Armenian-language domain zone .հայ (.hay), which was approved by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in 2015 summer. The new domain is pronounced “hye”.

From September 2015 to 31 January 2016 only public institutions, trademarks, trade names, as well as intellectual property were allowed to register with the new domain.

Speaking at the new domain zone’s presentation today, deputy minister Gagik Tadevosyan said Armenia is facing new challenges today and the launch of the Armenian-language domain zone may play an important role in the unification of Armenians around their national values. According to him, the first website in the new domain zone will be «նախագահ.հայ” (president.hay).

The launch of the Armenian-language domain zone is believed to encourage broader use of the Armenian keyboard by the vast Armenian Diaspora, while introduction of Armenian letters in the gadgets will contribute to the popularization of the language.

As of today nearly 150 organizations have applied for registration of their trademarks and trade names with the new domain zone. Seventy of them are government agencies.

The official domain of Armenia is am. It appeared in August 1994. By the end of 2015 there were more than 22 thousand sites registered at .am domain zone.