Armenian diaspora
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The Armenian diaspora is a term used to describe the communities of Armenians living outside of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Of the total Armenian population living worldwide (in 2004 estimated to be 9,000,000), only about 3,000,000 live in Armenia and about 130,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian diaspora population is estimated to be 8,000,000.[1] (See chart of population breakdown by country below). Only one-fifth of the world's Armenian population lives in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, and their pre-World War I homeland until the 1920s once covered five or six times that of present-day Armenia, including the eastern regions of Turkey, parts of Iran and Syria.
Although an Armenian diaspora existed since the Armenian loss of statehood in 1375 (when the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia fell to the Mamelukes), it grew in size only after the Armenian Genocide. Although many Armenians perished, others managed to escape, and established themselves in various Eastern European, Balkan, and Middle Eastern cities, such as Moscow, Russia; Sochi, Russia; Odessa, Ukraine; Sevastopol, Crimea (Ukraine); Tbilisi, Georgia; Batumi, Georgia; Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Athens, Greece; Beirut, Lebanon; and Aleppo, Syria. Israel has a sizable Armenian community centered on the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem.
Several million Armenians settled in Western Europe (i.e. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) and in the Americas (North and South) as early as in the 1890s. Substantial Armenian communities also exist in the Russian Far East as well as in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Some of these groups were encouraged to settle in the area by both Tsarist and Soviet authorities while others had no choice but to come, being part of Stalin's population deportations. Armenian communities can also be found in India, Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa (Sudan, South Africa, and Ethiopia), and as far east as Singapore, Myanmar and Hong Kong. Armenian exile communities even once thrived in China, Japan and the Philippines, but the status of Armenian culture in these countries has all but disappeared.
Immediately after the Armenian Genocide, the Armenians of the diaspora lived in refugee camps. However, as their financial situation improved, the camps grew into towns, and these towns became cities. This was the case of many of the Armenian-populated regions in Lebanon like Anjar and Bourj Hammoud. In time, the Armenians organized themselves by building churches, schools, community centers, etc. Various political parties and benevolent unions, such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF or Dashnaktsutiun), the Social-Democrat Hunchakian party (Hunchak), and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), were established wherever there was a considerable number of Armenians.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the Soviet Union was trying to extend its influence throughout the world, and especially in the Middle East. The Social-Democrat Henchagian party, being ideologically close to communism, supported the Soviet Union in its struggle to expand in the Middle East. Partisans of the AGBU, supposedly being politically neutral, also supported the Soviet Union, because Armenia was part of Soviet Union. The ARF, despite its socialist background was a nationalistic party, objected, as it propagated the idea of a free, independent, and united Armenia. As the ARF struggled to preserve the flag, coat of arms, and national anthem of the Independent Armenian Republic of 1918-1922, others chose to support Soviet Armenia, seeing it as the only place in the world where Armenians could live safely as Armenians.
There was also a conflict between the leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenians had 2 Catholicoses. One of them was located in Echmiadzin, Armenia and was supported by the Soviet KGB, the Hunchaks, and the Ramgavars, while the other was located in Antelias, Lebanon and was supported by the Dashnaks, as they thought that the Catholicosate of Echmiadzin was a tool for propagation of communism. In the 1950s, during the climax of this conflict, there were armed clashes between partisans of the 2 "sides", and also assassination attempts, acts of desecration, etc. However, tensions eased out in 1975 during the Lebanese Civil War, when Armenians had to stick together in order to overcome opposing forces. And unfortunately, some Armenians fought for Iraq in the army under Saddam Hussein in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, two countries known to have large Armenian communities until the 2000s.
Following the expansion of Pan-Arabism in Egypt and Syria, Islamism in Iran, and the Lebanese Civil War, tens of thousands of Armenians emigrated from the Middle East and established themselves in the United States, Canada, France, and elsewhere, where they founded lobbies to support the Republic of Armenia and extend the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. Today, the countries with the largest number of Armenians (excluding Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh) in rank of order are Russia, United States, France, Iran (although the community shrunk in size since the 1970s), Lebanon, Georgia (republic), Syria, Argentina, Canada, and the Ukraine. An estimated 10,000 Armenians are said to reside in Mexico, while the Armenian community in Iraq has dwindled after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and a scattering number of Armenians remain in east Asia.
[edit] Armenian Diaspora Political Organizations
- European Armenian Federation for Justice & Democracy - Europe
- Armenian National Committee of America - USA
- Comité de Défense de la Cause Arménienne - France
- Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide - UK
- Armenian National Committee of Canada - Canada
- Armenian National Committee of Middle East - Middle East
[edit] Armenians in the world
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[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ BBC NEWS | Europe | Armenia seeks to boost population
- ^ The 2002 Russian census recorded 1,130,491 Armenians (0.78% of the population).
- ^ a b See Armenian-American; EuroAmerican.net presents official data from the 2000 U.S. Census (including state-by-state data), which states that there are 385,488 people of Armenian ancestry currently living in the United States. The 2001 Canadian Census determined that there are 40,505 persons of Armenian ancestry currently living in Canada. However, these are liable to be low numbers, since people of mixed ancestry, very common in North America tend to be under-counted. The Armenian Embassy in Canada estimates 1 million ethnic Armenians in the U.S. and 100,000 in Canada. The Armenian Church of America makes a similar estimate. By all accounts, over half of the Armenians in the United States live in California.
- ^ The Education for Development Institute maintains an extensive site about Armenia that includes information about the Armenian diaspora in various countries. Their numbers generally agree with other sources when those are available; where we don't have a more authoritative source, we are following their numbers.
- ^ French in Armenia 'genocide' row. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of the Orient states that there are 400,000 ethnic Armenians living in Iran.
- ^ Georgia: The State Department for Statistics of Georgia: 248,900 represents 5.7 % ethnic Armenians in an estimated national population of 4,371,500 (The Official data of 2002). The World Factbook: 267,000 represents 5.7 % ethnic Armenians in an estimated national population of 4,693,892 (July 2004 est.). Nationmaster.com: Georgia: 400,000 represents 8.1% ethnic Armenians in an estimated national population of 4,934,413 (The Official data of 1989).
- ^ The Encyclopedia of the Orient states that 160,000 Apostolic Armenians and 30,000 Catholic Armenians live in Syria. That number together makes up 190,000.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of the Orient states that 120,000 Apostolic Armenians and 20,000 Catholic Armenians live in Lebanon. That number together makes up 140,000.
- ^ The Results Of 2005 Census Of The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
- ^ There are 130,000 Armenians living in Argentina according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ The 2001 census Ukrainian census held in 2001 recorded 99,894 Armenians.
- ^ There are 92,000 Armenians living in Poland according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ Turay, Anna. Tarihte Ermeniler. Bolsohays:Istanbul Armenians. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of the Orient states that 70,000 Armenians live in Jordan.
- ^ There are 70,000 Armenians living in Uzbekistan according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 42,000 Armenians living in Germany according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ The Armenian-Greek Community website.
- ^ There are 40,000 Armenians living in Brazil according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 45,000 Armenians living in Australia according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ Turkmenistan: Focus on Armenian migrants
- ^ There are 30,000 Armenians living in Bulgaria according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 25,000 Armenians living in Belarus according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 25,000 Armenians living in Kazakhstan according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 20,000 Armenians living in Iraq according to Armeniandiaspora.com
- ^ Radio Free Europe
- ^ There are 19,000 Armenians living in Uruguay according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 18,001 Armenians living in the United Kingdom according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ Demographic information of Hungary.
- ^ There are 10,000 Armenians living in the Belgium according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There are 10,000 Armenians living in the Czech Republic according to Armeniandiaspora.com.
- ^ There is an unknown number of Armenians in Ecuador atArmenian diaspora.com
- ^ There is an unknown number of Armenians in Slovakia atArmenian diaspora.com
- ^ There is an unknown number of Armenians in Paraguay atArmenian diaspora.com
- ^ There is an unknown number of Armenians in Jamaica at Armenian diaspora.com
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Armenian-Diaspora.com | Национальное Сообщество Армян
- Aremenians In ... | Forum For Worldwide Armenians
- InHomage Armenian Memorial dedicated to the victims of 1915 - Recording and referencing of the Names by area - Contact between the descendants
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