View source for Armenian diaspora

{{Short description|Communities of Armenians outside Armenia}}[[File:Map of the Armenian Diaspora in the World.svg|thumb|300x300px|Map of the Armenian diaspora in the world (includes people with Armenian ancestry or citizenship). For detailed statistics, see [[Armenian population by country]].<br>
{{Legend|#000000|Armenia}}
{{Legend|#B57900|+ 1,000,000}}
{{Legend|#F2A800|+ 100,000}}
{{Legend|#f9d493|+ 10,000}}
{{Legend|#fff0cc|+ 1,000}}]]{{Armenians}}
The '''Armenian diaspora''' refers to the communities of [[Armenians]] outside [[Armenia]] and other [[Armenian highlands|locations where Armenians are considered to be indigenous]]. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. The Armenian diaspora is one of the oldest and largest diasporas in the world,<ref name="Aditya Anshu">{{cite book |author=Aditya Anshu |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7Z6TEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA149 |title=Navigating Globalization, Diaspora, Foreign Policy and Sustainability |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2025 |isbn=978-981-9690-79-4 |pages=149 |quote=...the diaspora has existed for over 1700 years, making it one of the oldest diasporas in the world.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=TrVoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |title=Diaspora Networks in International Business |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year= |isbn= |pages=305 |quote=The Armenian diaspora is one of the oldest and largest diasporas in the world, and the Armenians reside in nearly every country, including Finland.}}</ref><ref name="Marcello Mollica, Arsen Hakobyan">{{cite book |author=Marcello Mollica, Arsen Hakobyan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HcpKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |title=Syrian Armenians and the Turkish Factor |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-03072319-4 |pages=76 |quote=The Armenian Diaspora is the second oldest in history.}}</ref> with the oldest community being the [[Armenian Quarter|Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem]].

The modern Armenian diaspora was largely formed as a result of [[World War I]], when the [[Armenian genocide|genocide]] committed by the [[Ottoman Empire]] forced [[Armenians in the Ottoman Empire|Armenians]] in [[Western Armenia]] to flee.<ref name="RHansen" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lewis|first=Martin W.|editor-last=Berlatsky|editor-first=Noah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XoFmDwAAQBAJ |title=The Armenian Genocide|date=2015-05-27|publisher=Greenhaven Publishing LLC|isbn=978-0-7377-7319-4|language=en|chapter=The Armenian Diaspora Is An Ongoing Phenomenon|pages=66–72}}</ref> Another wave of emigration from [[Eastern Armenia]] occurred in the 1990s amid the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]],<ref name=":8">{{cite journal |last1=Vardanian |first1=Astghik |date=1996 |title=Armenia's Choice |journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |language=EN |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=50–54 |bibcode=1996BuAtS..52d..50V |doi=10.1080/00963402.1996.11456644 |quote=According to the U.N. Development Program, 676,000 people—or about one fifth of the population—left during this period, mainly settling in Russia, the United States, or Israel.}}</ref><ref name="Astghik Chaloyan">{{cite book |author=Astghik Chaloyan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jUqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |title=Fluctuating Transnationalism Social Formation and Reproduction among Armenians in Germany |publisher=Springer |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-658-18826-9 |pages=65 |quote=Roughly calculated, this wave can be determined from 1991 until 1995. According to CRRC (the Caucasus Research Resource Centres)...more than 17% of Armenia's population migrated between the years of 1991-1995...}}</ref><ref name="Jerry L. Johnson">{{cite book |author=Jerry L. Johnson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OevniclZr8cC&pg=PA |title=Crossing Borders--confronting History Intercultural Adjustment in a Post-Cold War World |publisher=University Press of America |year=2000 |isbn=0-7618-1536-8 |pages= |quote=The destabilizing exodus of some 800,000 educated and resourceful Armenians, mostly young people, occurred at a time when they were needed the most for nation-building.}}</ref> the [[Turkish–Azeri blockade of Armenia|Turkish-Azeri blockade of Armenia]], and an [[1990s Armenian energy crisis|energy crisis]]. The [[High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs (Armenia)|High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs]] established in 2019 is in charge of coordinating and developing Armenia's relations with the diaspora. The vast majority of ethnic Armenians worldwide do not live in the [[Armenia|Republic of Armenia]], {{Citation needed|date=July 2025|reason=not in other inline citations, not clearly supported by linked articles at time of tagging}} and has led to [[Repatriation of Armenians|repatriation campaigns]].

==Terminology==
In [[Armenian language|Armenian]], the diaspora is referred to as '''spyurk''' ({{IPA|hy|spʰʏrkʰ|pron}}), spelled սփիւռք in [[Classical Armenian orthography|classical orthography]] and սփյուռք in [[Armenian orthography reform|reformed orthography]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dufoix |first=Stéphane |title=Diasporas |year=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=978-0-520-25359-9 |page=84}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Harutyunyan |first=Arus |title=Contesting National Identities in an Ethnically Homogeneous State: The Case of Armenian Democratization |year=2009 |publisher=Western Michigan University |isbn=978-1-109-12012-7 |page=56}}</ref> In the past, the word '''gaghut''' ([[wikt:գաղութ|գաղութ]] {{IPA|hy|ɡɑˈʁutʰ|pron}}) was used mostly to refer to the Armenian communities outside the [[Armenian Highlands|Armenian homeland]]. It is borrowed from the Aramaic (Classical Syriac) cognate<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Hrachia Adjarian |last=Ačaṙean |first=Hračʿeay |title=Hayerēn Armatakan Baṙaran |trans-title=Dictionary of Armenian Root Words |year=1971–1979 |publisher=Yerevan University Press |location=Yerevan |volume=1 |page=[http://nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=7&pageNumber=78&vk_layout=AM+Armenian+Western&query=%D5%A3%D5%A1%D5%B2%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%A9 505]}}</ref> of Hebrew ''[[galut]]'' (גלות).<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of diasporas: immigrant and refugee cultures around the world |year=2004 |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |location=Dordrecht, Netherlands |isbn=978-0-306-48321-9 |author1=Melvin Ember |author2=Carol R. Ember |author3=Ian A. Skoggard |page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Diaspora: Volume 1, Issue 1 |year=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507081-1}}</ref>

==History==
The Armenian diaspora has been present for over 1,700 years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Herzig|first=Edmund|title=The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity|page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEVR88DKpGgC&pg=PA126 |isbn=9780203004937|date=2004-12-10 |publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> The Armenian diaspora is divided into two communities – the communities from [[Anatolia]] (or [[Western Armenia]]) and the communities from the Caucasus or [[Eastern Armenia]] (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and other communities from the former [[Soviet Union]]). Some Armenians in [[Crimea]] and in the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] switched to [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] [[Armeno-Kipchak language]].

The modern Armenian diaspora was largely formed after [[World War I]] as a result of the [[Armenian genocide]]. According to [[Randall Hansen]], "Both in the past and today, the Armenian communities around the world have developed in significantly different ways within the constraints and opportunities found in varied host cultures and countries."<ref name="RHansen">{{cite book|last=Hansen|first=Randall|title=Immigration and asylum: from 1900 to the present|page=13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2c6ifbjx2wMC&pg=PA13 }}</ref>

In the fourth century, Armenian communities already existed outside [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Greater Armenia]]. [[Diaspora|Diasporic]] Armenian communities emerged in the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] and [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] empires, and they also defended the eastern and northern borders of the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref name="Encyclopedia of Diasporas"/> In order to populate the less populated areas of Byzantium, Armenians were relocated to those regions. Some Armenians converted to Greek Orthodoxy while retaining [[Armenian language|Armenian]] as their primary language, whereas others remained in the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] despite pressure from official authorities. A growing number of Armenians migrated to [[Cilicia]] during the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries as a result of the Seljuk Turk invasions. After the fall of the kingdom to the [[Mamelukes]] and loss of Armenian statehood in 1375, up to 150,000 went to [[Cyprus]], [[the Balkans]], and [[Italy]].<ref name="Encyclopedia of Diasporas">{{cite book |last1=Ember |first1=Melvin |last2=Ember |first2=Carol R. |last3=Skoggard |first3=Ian |title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World |publisher=Springer |year=2004 |isbn=0-306-48321-1 |pages=36–43}}</ref> The Armenian diaspora is also notable for its historical [[Armenian merchantry|mercantile communities]] throughout Asia in the [[Middle Ages]] and in the Early Modern Period, in countries such as China, India, and Iran, many of whom rose to high positions within the various Asian royal courts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sebouh Aslanian — On the Boundaries of History: The Armenian Diaspora of the Early Modern Period | website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8b4Smx02pk |date=23 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Halton |first1=Dan |last2=Constantine |first2=Laura L. |title=Rise and Shine {{!}} AGBU |url=https://agbu.org/silk-road-2020/rise-shine |website=agbu.org |language=en}}</ref> Although an Armenian diaspora existed during [[Classical Antiquity|Antiquity]] and the Middle Ages, it grew in size due to emigration from the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Iran]], [[Russia]], and the [[Caucasus]].

[[Armenians in Turkey]], such as [[Hrant Dink]], do not consider themselves a part of the Armenian Diaspora, since they have been living in their historical homeland for more than four thousand years.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baronian |first1=Marie-Aude |url=https://brill.com/view/title/30915 |title=Diaspora and Memory: Figures of Displacement in Contemporary Literature, Arts and Politics |last2=Besser |first2=Stephan |last3=Jansen |first3=Yolande |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-94-012-0380-7 |doi=10.1163/9789401203807_006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baser |first1=Bahar |last2=Swain |first2=Ashok |date=2009 |title=Diaspora Design Versus Homeland Realities: Case Study of Armenian Diaspora |url=https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/10967 |language=en|journal=Caucasian Review of International Affairs|page=57}}</ref> They are not considered part of the diaspora either by the [[Ministry of Diaspora]] [[Hranush Hakobyan]]: "Diaspora represents all the Armenians who live beyond the [[Armenian highlands|Armenian Highland]]. In this context, we have singled out the Armenians of Istanbul and those living on the territory of [[Western Armenia]]. Those people have inhabited the lands for thousands of years, and they are not considered Diaspora."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minister denies calling Armenians 'Diaspora representatives' in Istanbul |url=https://www.tert.am/en/news/2011/05/12/diaspora-minister-hurriyet/279878 |access-date=2023-10-08 |website=www.tert.am |language=en}}</ref>

Before 1870, 60 Armenian immigrants settled in New England.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Bakalian|first=Anny P.|title=Armenian-Americans : from being to feeling Armenian|date=1993|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=1-56000-025-2|location=New Brunswick (U.S.A.)|oclc=24538802}}</ref> Armenian immigration rose to 1,500 by the end of the 1880s, and rose to 2,500 in the mid-1890s due to massacres caused by the Ottoman Empire. Armenians who immigrated to the United States before WWI were primarily from Asia Minor and settled on the East Coast.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Arm refugees.png|thumb|259x259px|Routes of Armenian refugees during the 1920s and 1930s, including the exodus from the Hatay province.]]
The Armenian diaspora grew considerably both during and after the [[World War I|First World War]] due to the [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|dissolution]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Harutyunyan |first=Arus |title=Contesting National Identities in an Ethnically Homogeneous State: The Case of Armenian Democratization |date=April 2009 |degree=PhD |publisher=Western Michigan University |url=https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/667}}</ref> In the year 1910, over 5,500 Armenians immigrated to the United States, and by 1913, 9,355 more Armenians entered the North American borders.<ref name=":0" /> As World War I approached, the rate of Armenian immigration rose to about 60,000. In 1920 and until the [[Immigration Act of 1924]], 30,771 Armenians came to the United States; the immigrants were predominantly widowed women, children, and orphans.<ref name=":0" /> Although many Armenians perished during the [[Armenian genocide]], some of the Armenians who managed to escape, established themselves in various parts of the world. 

By 1966, around 40 years after the start of the Armenian genocide, 2 million Armenians still lived in Armenia, while 330,000 Armenians lived in Russia, and 450,000 Armenians lived in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]].<ref name="Cohen 2010 48–63">{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Robin|title=Global Diasporas: An Introduction|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|pages=48–63}}</ref> 

In the United States, the rate of immigration increased after the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965|Immigration Act]] was passed in 1965.<ref name=":0" /> The outbreak of the [[Lebanese Civil War|civil War in Lebanon]] in 1975 and the outbreak of the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic Revolution in Iran]] during 1978 were factors which pushed Armenians to immigrate. The 1980 U.S. Census reported that 90 percent of the immigration to the United States was undertaken by Iranian-Armenians during the years from 1975 and 1980.<ref name=":0" />

The [[1990s Armenian energy crisis|energy crisis in Armenia]] in the early 1990s also resulted in the emigration of 676,000-800,000 Armenians from the Caucasus.<ref name=":8"/><ref name="Jerry L. Johnson2">{{cite book |author=Jerry L. Johnson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OevniclZr8cC&pg=PA |title=Crossing Borders--confronting History Intercultural Adjustment in a Post-Cold War World |publisher=University Press of America |year=2000 |isbn=0-7618-1536-8 |pages= |quote=The destabilizing exodus of some 800,000 educated and resourceful Armenians, mostly young people, occurred at a time when they were needed the most for nation-building.}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{citation |title=Armenia - Caucasus, Soviet Union, Genocide |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia/Modern-Armenia |access-date=2024-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240810212633/https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia/Modern-Armenia |archive-date=2024-08-10 |language=en |quote=A blockade imposed by Azerbaijan in 1989 had devastated the Armenian economy; the resulting severe decline in living conditions led hundreds of thousands of Armenians to emigrate.}}</ref>

==Distribution==
{{main|Armenian population by country}}
{{See also|Historical Armenian population}}

Less than one third of the world's Armenian population lives in Armenia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025|reason=not in other inline citations, not clearly supported by linked articles at time of tagging}} Their pre-[[World War I]] population area was six times larger than that of present-day Armenia, including the [[Western Armenia|eastern regions of Turkey]], northern part of [[Iran]], and the [[Samtskhe-Javakheti|southern part of Georgia]].<ref name="Encyclopedia of diasporas">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of diasporas: immigrant and refugee cultures around the world|year=2004|publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers|location=Dordrecht, Netherlands|isbn=978-0-306-48321-9|author1=Melvin Ember |author2=Carol R. Ember |author3=Ian A. Skoggard |page=36|quote=Currently, only one-sixth of that land [ancestral territory] is inhabited by Armenians, due first to variously coerced emigrations and finally to the genocide of the Armenian inhabitants of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1915.}}</ref>

{{As of|2000|alt=By}} 2000, there were 7,580,000 Armenians living abroad in total.<ref name="Cohen 2010 48–63"/>

==See also==
*[[Armenia–Azerbaijan relations]]
*[[Armenia–European Union relations]] 
*[[Armenia–France relations]] 
*[[Armenia–Georgia relations]]
*[[Armenia–Russia relations]]
*[[Armenia–Turkey relations]] 
*[[Armenia–United States relations]]
*[[Foreign relations of Armenia]]
*[[Largest Armenian diaspora communities]]
*[[List of diasporas]]
*[[Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs]]
*[[Visa requirements for Armenian citizens]]
*[[White genocide (Armenians)]]

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Ayvazyan|first=Hovhannes|script-title=hy:Հայ Սփյուռք հանրագիտարան|trans-title=Encyclopedia of Armenian Diaspora |volume=1|year=2003|isbn=5-89700-020-4|publisher=Armenian Encyclopedia publishing|location=Yerevan|language=hy}}
*{{cite book|last=de Waal|first=Thomas|title=[[Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War]]|year=2003|publisher=New York University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8147-1945-9|author-link=Thomas de Waal}}
*Poghosyan, Mari; Madanmohan, Dr Prashant (2023-09-29). ''Armenian Legacy in India: Chronicles deciphering Indian and Armenian Cultural Legacies''. Cognishift.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Poghosyan |first1=Mari |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ItjwEAAAQBAJ |title=Armenian Legacy in India: Chronicles deciphering Indian and Armenian Cultural Legacies |last2=Madanmohan |first2=Dr Prashant |date=2023-09-29 |publisher=Cognishift |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Armenian diaspora}}
* [http://diaspora.gov.am/en Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs]
* [https://ovenk.com Ovenk.com], Armenian Diaspora Memory and Innovation
* The Armenian Diaspora Today: Anthropological Perspectives. Articles in the [https://www.laender-analysen.de/cad/pdf/CaucasusAnalyticalDigest29.pdf Caucasus Anallytical Digest No. 29]
* [https://neruzh.am Neruzh Diaspora Tech Startup Program]

{{Armenian diaspora |state=expanded}}
{{Diasporas}}
{{European diasporas}}
{{Overseas Asians}}
{{Armenia topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armenian Diaspora}}
[[Category:Armenian diaspora| ]]