Stamps from Armenia, Israel, Latvia, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar

In mid-December my family asked me to order some stamps as Christmas present, so I decided to order some stamps from Armenia, the Faroe Islands, Israel, Latvia and Malta. The stamps from the Faroe Islands and Latvia arrived shortly after. The stamps from Armenia just arrived in mid-January and the stamps from Israel even needed until the end of January to reach me. The stamps from Malta are still missing. Now that I got a stamp order from Gibraltar, which I placed more than two months later, I lost every faith that the stamps from Malta will ever arrive. Nevertheless here are some of my favourite stamps from all the order.

Many of the stamps from Armenia and Israel are commemorating World War I.

At the beginning of World War I the traditional territories of the Armenians were divided between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. In the Ottoman Empire the Christian Armenians were accused to be liable to ally with Russia and the government treated the entire Armenian population as an enemy within its empire. On 24th April 1915 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople were arrested and exiled. This marked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. In the coming months the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia were  displaced, killed or forced to walk in inhuman conditions towards the southern borders of the Ottoman Empire. Around 1,5million Armenians lost their lives during the Genocide. After World War I the short-living First Republic of Armenia was established.

Centenary of World War I (issued 29-09-2014)

Centenary of the Armenian Genocide (issued 29-01-2015)

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government on 2nd November 1917. With it the British government announced their support for the Zionist aim of establishing a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, which was then still under Ottoman rule. Thus the British hoped to mobilise new ressources.

Centenary of the Balfour Declaration (issued 12-09-2017)

The Battle of Jerusalem was a part of the British Sinai and Palestine Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. The battle started on 17th November 1917 and already on the 9th December Jerusalem surrended to the British, although fightings continued until the 30th December. When General Edmund Allenby entered the Old City on 11th December, he was the first Christian in many centuries to control the holy city. The capture of Jerusalem was a great morale boost for the British Empire and led to a loss of prestige for the Ottoman Empire in the Arabic World. After the battle the British established a new strategically strong fortified line.

Centenary of the Battle of Jerusalem (issued 31-05-2017)

My favourite stamps from Latvia and the Faroe Islands are the Family Superteam from Latvia (issued 16-05-2017) and the Seven Swans from the Faroe Islands (issued 08-09-2017).

One of the souvenir sheets I got from Gibraltar is about the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (issued 10-03-2018).