In the field of the contemporary art and performance, some notable American artist of Armenian heritage include Nina Katchadourian, Eric Bogosian, Tabboo! In places as distant as Los Angeles and Beirut, both home to significant Armenian diasporas, pro-Armenian activists have marched, gathered assistance and organized volunteers for the. [212] Major league pitchers Steve Bedrosian and his son, Cam Bedrosian, are of Armenian descent. Oct. 5, 2020 4:24 PM PT. [106] Watertown, Massachusetts is the center of Boston Armenians, where according to estimates about 8,000 people of Armenian origin reside,[107][108] though the 2000 Census put the number only at 2,708. Armenian Americans (Armenian: , romanized:amerikahayer) are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. [203] Another Marine captain, Victor Maghakian is considered one of the most decorated American soldiers of the war. ANCA-WR Deeply Concerned with Disenfranchisement of Armenian Community in Los Angeles City Redistricting Proposal October 12, 2021. . Among them were Andranik Ozanian, a military commander who is considered a national hero among Armenians, who lived in Fresno, California from 1922 and died in California in 1927. Los Angeles has the biggest population of Armenians outside of Armenia. But in L.A., which has the second-largest Armenian population in the world, many different generations of Armenians meet, bringing together the disparate cooking styles that millennia of unrest have brought about. [58] A group of Armenian Americans from Istanbul founded the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA) in 1976,[59] which claimed over 1,000 members in Southern California as of 2011. [28], A new wave of Armenian immigrants moved in the late 1940s, including Soviet Armenian prisoners of war who were able to make their way westward after being freed from Nazi camps. She then claims that "it had significant role in the United States providing financial support to Armenia. [9] The only Armenian known to have participated in hostilities was Khachadour Paul Garabedian, who enlisted in the Union Navy. Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. In comparison, 46% of southern Italians, 74% of Eastern European Jews and 99% of Finns were literate. (Photo: MoD of Armenia, October 5, 2020) By now you know that Azerbaijan . Armenians across Southern California have been protesting to bring attention to the deadly and escalating conflict in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Immigrants were asked to indicate which state they were going to settle in; for Armenians, the most popular answers were New York (17,391), Massachusetts (14,192), Rhode Island (4,923), Illinois (3,313), California (2,564), New Jersey (2,115), Pennsylvania (2,002), Michigan (1,371). It holds a little less than half of all Armenians living in the US, making it one of the most populous Armenian communities outside of Armenia. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian is primate of the Eastern Diocese (since 1990); Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese (since 2003). [139] The Western Diocese was established in 1927. "[170] Sebu Simonian, one of two founders of the band Capital Cities, is Lebanese Armenian. Data. The first recorded Armenian to visit North America was Martin the Armenian from Iran. Current and permanent population (urban, rural) of NKR administrative-territorial units according to 2005 and 2015 censuses", "Drought leads to "unprecedented" water crisis in Stepanakert city", " : ", " : , ", "Russia's Krasnodar region on alert after Domodedovo blast", " : ? If military conflict alone did it, wed be done, but were not done.. The Armenian diaspora in L.A. is currently protesting for three things: the acknowledgment of Artsakh as an independent republic, the termination of military aid to Azerbaijan by the United States and more media coverage that sheds light on the conflict in an accurate way. The first Armenian Apostolic church in America, named Church of Our Savior, was built in 1891 in Worcester. October 20, 2020 The Armenian American population is a beating heart of Los Angeles, tucked away into the vibrant and comforting charm of Glendale. [138], Today, more than 120 Armenian parish communities exist on the continent, with two-thirds operating as fully organized churches with sanctuaries. LOS ANGELES (AP) Thousands of people protested Sunday in Los Angeles to condemn Azerbaijan and Turkey's role in hostilities against Armenia in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nobody chooses to leave their homeland unless its by force.. Other states with significant number of Armenian-speakers were New York (8,575) and Massachusetts (8,091). Los Angeles, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids. As Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting intensifies over separatist region, wider rivalries could come into play. In 1923, Nagorno-Karabakh became part of Soviet Azerbaijan while maintaining its autonomous status. The following table is the list of urban areas with the largest Armenian population, including in Armenia and the disputed Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and the Armenian diaspora. )", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Armenian_population_by_urban_area&oldid=1128338342, Lists of cities with large ethnic identity populations, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Black Sea coast (Chernomorsk) agglomeration, This page was last edited on 19 December 2022, at 16:30. [50], According to Dr. Anny Bakalian, "country of birth and childhood socialization, generation, and even cohort effect are important variables in understanding the behavior and attitudes of people of Armenian descent". [127][128], According to the 2000 US Census there were 385,488 ethnic Armenians living in the US, and 202,708 people identified Armenian as 'Language Spoken at Home'. His son Dr. Edgar Housepian was a neurosurgeon, educator, and co-founder of the Fund for Armenian Relief. About 30,000 Soviet Armenians entered the country from 1960 to 1984, and another 60,000 moved throughout the late 1980s, during the Perestroika era. Ararat is published in English by the AGBU and also includes works by Armenian writers around the world in translation. His acting career spanned over 6 decades. Encompassing a cross section of literary genres and forms, Armenian American writers often incorporate some common themes (e.g., the Armenian genocide) while maintaining very personal literary styles. Raffi Hovannisian, a Fresno-born third-generation Armenian American lawyer, moved to Armenia in 1991 and soon was appointed the first foreign minister of Armenia, where he remained until 1992. A generation of leaders born in America also began to exert itself. [166][167] Sev Ohanian is a film screenwriter and producer of Searching, Fruitvale Station and Run. The Pacific Northwest has a growing Armenian community as well, primarily centered around the Seattle Metropolitan area which consists anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000[120] Armenian Americans, along with a church. Talar Chahinian, a lecturer in the Armenian Studies Program at UC Irvine, said many Armenians in California got the news that Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, was being attacked around midnight Sept. 27 or woke up to it the next morning. [96], The Northern Californian Armenian population is not as populous as the Southern portion of the state. It must also demand others like Turkey stay out of this conflict. [109] Worcester, Massachusetts was also a major center for Armenian immigrants in the early part of the twentieth century. The metro area population of Los Angeles in 2021 was 12,459,000, a 0.1% increase from 2020. A naturalized citizen from Rodosto, Garabedian served aboard the blockade ships USS Geranium and USS Grand Gulf as a Third Assistant Engineer and later an officer from 1864 until his honorable discharge from the Navy in August 1865. Jane Partizpanyan, ContributorOctober 30, 2020. [136] The American Diocese of the Church was established in 1898 by Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian. [95] The area around the Holy Trinity Church is called Old Armenian Town. [109], Other major northeastern cities with significant Armenian populations include Philadelphia and Providence. [23] Before the start of the World War I, there were already 60,000 Armenians in the US. [83] The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument, the oldest and largest Armenian Genocide memorial in the US, is located in Montebello.[92]. Some estimates have the Singles population in Lost Angeles at over ,! Thousands of Armenians settled in the United States following the Hamidian massacres of the mid-1890s, the Adana Massacre of 1909, and the Armenian genocide of 19151918 in the Ottoman Empire. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 allowed people displaced during the World War II to immigrate to the US. They take pride in their support of Etchmiadzin, in the massive humanitarian aid given since the 1988 earthquake, in Armenians in high government positions, and particularly in the establishment of the American University of Armenia, the first major experiment in American higher education in the former Soviet Union. [42][122] About 2/3 of Armenians speakers call Los Angeles County home. ), and the rest in other parts of the world. With the exception of Fresno, California, which had land suitable for farming, the earliest Armenian immigrants mostly settled in the northeastern industrial centers, such as New York City, Providence, Worcester, and Boston. Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh, which is its historic Armenian name, has been inhabited by Armenians since the civilization of ancient Armenias Urartu. Each side reads their own official information, that theyre being attacked by the other side, he said. By the 1770s over 70 Armenians had settled in the colonies. In the eyes of Armenians, this would be difficult to accomplish, along with de-escalation, if the United States continued its financial support of Azerbaijan. This month, Nikol Pashinyan, Armenias prime minister, said Trump had promised to call him about the intensifying conflict before he became sick with COVID-19. [78], Los Angeles and the surrounding area is, by far, the most crowded Armenian community in the US. Although thats true, all sides have agreed that this is not about religion, Ghazarian said. As the largest and most prosperous community in the world, as inheritors of a Protestant American work ethic, coupled with American self-righteousness, Armenian Americans feel they have a special role in the survival and success of the new state. ", " : (1926 . In 2011, the British magazine ArtReview placed Gagosian fourth in their annual poll of "most powerful person in the art world". On Tuesday, the protest outside The Times headquarters in El Segundo was partly driven by anger over a story that quoted Nasimi Aghayev, the consul general of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles, who accused Armenia of promoting white supremacist propaganda. [220] Christmas Tree Shops, a chain of small stores, was founded by Charles Bilezikian and his wife. There are currently more than 200,000 Armenians living in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, and the city of Glendale - with a population that is roughly 30% Armenian - is its beating . Armenian cuisine, and Middle Eastern cuisine in general, is popular among Armenian Americans. [76], Most Armenian Americans are concentrated in major urban areas, especially in California and the Northeast, and to a lesser extent in the Midwest. We knew civilians were being attacked, the capital was attacked, Turkey was open that they were in on it, and it felt very different this time.. In 1992, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe formed the Minsk Group, with Russia, France and the U.S. in charge of finding a diplomatic solution in Nagorno-Karabakh. David Kherdian (Heyday, 2007), Last edited on 13 February 2023, at 04:29, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), History of Armenian Americans in Los Angeles, most populous Armenian communities outside of Armenia, List of Armenian schools in the United States, United States resolution on Armenian Genocide, List of American politicians of Armenian descent, Armenian Church Youth Organization of America, Armenian Youth Federation United States Chapters, "PEOPLE REPORTING ANCESTRY Universe: Total population more information 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "WikiLeaks: U.S. The first American-born Armenian priest was ordained in 1956. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is known for its financial support and promotion of Armenian culture and Armenian language schools. The New York-based Ararat Quarterly, published since 1959, has been a major venue for Armenian American writing. Sacramento, California - Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D - Burbank) announced that the Senate Select Committee on California, Armenia and Artsakh Mutual Trade, Art, and Cultural Exchange has been re-established for the 2023-24 Legislative Session. [94] Today, an estimated number of about 40,000 Armenian live in Fresno. Since the 1950s many Armenians from the Middle East (especially from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey) migrated to the U.S. as a result of political instability in the region. [19], Over 12,000 Armenians from the Ottoman Empire went to the US throughout the 1890s. Heres the background on how the conflict got to this point and its implications in Southern California. [5] The persecution of Christian minorities under the Ottoman Empire and American missionary activities resulted in a small wave of Armenian migration to the US in the 1830s from Cilicia and Western Armenia. Ulduz Azar, an officer of the Azerbaijan Cultural Society of Northern California, told The Times that her local community in San Francisco has also been raising money to send to Azerbaijanis who have lost family members or whose homes have been destroyed. Other calls to action, as outlined by the Armenian National Committee of America, include supporting aid efforts to Nagorno-Karabakh, calling for the U.S. to cut all military aid to Azerbaijan and urging countries around the world to condemn Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression. (The Turkish government disputes that the deaths estimates range from 600,000 to 1.5 million people killed under the Ottoman Empire constituted a genocide.). [6] The 1988 Armenian earthquake and the energy crisis in Armenia during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War caused an estimated number of 700,000 Armenians to leave the country, most of whom ended up in Russia, still others in the US, and some in Europe. Jordan, Robert Paul and Harry Naltchayan. Laurence Broers, a scholar on the conflict, told The Times that although Azerbaijan instigated this attack, that country sees the conflict as a defensive war to reclaim lost land. First wave of immigration and the Interwar period, Kouymjian, 2000 " and particularly Los Angeles, which alone has nearly a quarter of a million Armenians in places like Hollywood, Glendale, and Pasadena. [123] Furthermore, Western and Eastern Armenian use two different spellings. Shekerjian also gave numerous speeches during the war encouraging Americans of Armenian descent to enlist. Armenians are asking for more recognition of the issue, as the conflict in Artsakh is a real threat to families of the Armenian diaspora in L.A. Terzians family member fought on the frontlines in Artsakh as a captain and died serving his country. October 11, 2020. [194], A small number of Armenian Americans moved to Armenia in the early 1990s, some becoming notable in their ancestral homeland. But Turkey and Azerbaijan vigorously denied that. It is self-ruling and receives funding from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora, which is far larger than Armenias population of about 3 million. When the Hood Rubber Company (later joined with B.F. Goodrich) opened in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1896. [55], The Armenian American community has been described as the "most influential" Armenian community in the world, though smaller in size than the one in Russia. And they dont let independent journalists enter the zone from their side. Armenian-born singers that have lived or live in the US include rock singer pop singers Harout Pamboukjian[172] and Armenchik.[173]. The highest concentrations of Americans of Armenian ancestry are in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [125] According to the 1980 US Census 100,634 people in the nation spoke Armenian, 69,995 of them were foreign-born. the German news website Spiegel Online and The New York Review of Books reported the estimate of 1,200,000,[68][69] while the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, U.S. News & World Report,[70] and Los Angeles Times[71] put the number at 1,400,000. Its this idea that its this tiny sliver of place that Armenians can call home, and thats whats under existential threat.. Zankou Chicken, a family-owned chain of Armenian and Middle-Eastern fast casual restaurants within the Los Angeles area, is among the most famous Armenian restaurants. During the rise of the Soviet Union, the Soviet authorities gave the region of Artsakh to Azerbaijan in 1921. Of the 339,732 Armenian Americans who are 25 or above, 26% are with a college degree, and 26.1% hold a bachelor's degree. People also get information directly from the region, Chahinian said. [134], Armenian Americans constitute a highly educated community. [14], Armenians began to arrive in the US in unprecedented numbers in the late 19th century, most notably after the Hamidian Massacres of 189496, and before, during and after the Armenian genocide. The resolution, which was co-sponsored by Council . The protesters shut down Imperial Highway and Douglas Street about 6 p.m. Tuesday, with some chanting, Shame on the L.A. Times.. But theres also a lot of internal diversity in the Armenian American population in Southern California, she said. Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian sponsored a resolution today through which the City of Los Angeles has condemned the brutal and unprovoked invasion launched over the weekend by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh. Chahinian explained that many Armenians see this not as a territorial dispute but as a threat to Armenian identity. This page in: English; . [6][60][130], A 1999 paper delivered by Bert Vaux described Armenian as "severely endangered" in the United States. . Armenian-speaking food vendors, pharmacists, physicians, dentists, lawyers, tailors, hair stylists, shop owners and mechanics are all available. [83] Several districts of Los Angeles have high concentrations of Armenians, particularly in San Fernando Valley: North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Encino. Andrea Martin, comedian and film and television actor, best known as a regular on the Canadian television comedy show, SCTV and as Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, is from a paternal and maternal, Armenian-American family. The Armenian community has been described as "highly educated, professional and prospering. Since the turn of the century there been a trend towards an increase in number of Armenians living outside of traditional settlement areas. Some notable Armenian Americans in business include the founder of Masco Alex Manoogian,[214] the Mugar family (owner of Star Market chain of supermarkets in New England),[215] Kevork Hovnanian, founder of Hovnanian Enterprises, Avedis Zildjian, the founder of Zildjian Company (the world's largest cymbal manufacturer), Gerard Cafesjian, and Alexis Ohanian (founder of the internet service Reddit). Diasporan history has been transformed by the Republic: nowhere is this more strongly felt than in America. Around the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, there were attempts from Nagorno-Karabakh to break away from Azerbaijan, which were met with violence. [7], The Armenian Apostolic Church is the oldest national church in the world, and had a major role in protecting the Armenian identity through the centuries of foreign domination. . [29] The total number of Soviet Armenian emigrants from 1956 to 1989, over 80% of them to the US, is estimated at 77,000. [42], The first Armenian arrived in California in 1874 and settled in Fresno. Many lived in luxury in their former countries, and more easily handled multilingualism, while retaining aspects of traditional Armenian culture. [24] An unprecedented number of Armenians entered the country in 1920, when the newly established Soviet Union forcefully annexed the First Republic of Armenia,[22] but the Immigration Act of 1924 that restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe as well as Asia barred many other Armenians from emigrating to the US. [22] Once in America, some Armenians organized political parties to serve various causes in America and in the homeland. There are Armenians from Middle Eastern countries like Syria and Lebanon, most of whom left during the Lebanese civil war in the years 1975 to 1990..