armenian population in los angeles 2020 armenian population in los angeles 2020

These developments refocused the priorities of the Armenian Church in America. Every year members of the Armenian diaspora push for recognition by the United States and other world powers of a genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923. [77] Fresno and the Central Valley in general were the center of California Armenian community, but in the later decades, especially since the 1960s, when significant number of Middle Eastern Armenians arrived in the US, Southern California attracted more and more Armenians. The first Armenian-language newspaper in the US, named Aregak (, "Sun"), was published in Jersey City in 1888. [133] Besides this, there are over 100 Armenian schools that operate on weekends only. Profile of Selected Demographic and Social Characteristics: 2000 / Population Universe: People Born in Armenia", "Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", Sabagh, Bozorgmehr & Der-Martirosian 1990, "Echoes From Armenia in Southern California", "A brotherhood is bolstered by food and friendship", "Nearly 100 charged, dozens arrested in operation targeting Armenian organized crime", "U.S. Cracks Down on Armenian Crime Syndicate", "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges 44 Members and Associates of an Armenian-American Organized Crime Enterprise with $100 Million Medicare Fraud", "Armenian American's Immigration to California", "Commentary: A Million Person March on Washington", "Armenian Lobby's Triumph: Genocide Resolution Risks Shattering Relations with Turkey", "Arab and other Middle Eastern Americans", "Barack Obama on the Importance of US-Armenia Relations", "Kim Kardashian Urges Support for Telethon", "Armenian-American clout buys genocide breakthrough", "The Armenian Community in the Los Angeles area", "Los Angeles County, California Ancestry: 2000", "Los Angeles-Long Beach-SantaAna, CA Metro Area Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "Ancestry: 2000 All places within California", "Armenians in Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, North Hills, and Northridge", "Council File: 00-1958 Title Little Armenia", "Armenian population up Valley, Glendale and Burbank show big percentage hikes", "Top 101 cities with the most residents born in Armenia (population 500+)", "Ancestry 2000: Fresno County, California", "Armenians in the San Francisco Bay Area", "Armenian Genocide Survivor lived in Northern California", "remembering the Armenian Genocide 100 Years Ago Holds Special Significance in Watertown", "Mass. [148] In 1990 there were 6 Armenian Catholic Churches in the United States.[147]. Nobody chooses to leave their homeland unless its by force.. [169] Composer Alan Hovhaness, born to an Armenian father and a Scottish-American mother, "wrote more than 400 pieces, among them 67 symphonies of varying quality. Armenian, Syrian, Greek, and Italian immigrants made Hood Rubber the biggest producer of rubber soles in the US, and thus made Watertown, MA the first center of Armenian America. [138], Today, more than 120 Armenian parish communities exist on the continent, with two-thirds operating as fully organized churches with sanctuaries. [136] The American Diocese of the Church was established in 1898 by Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian. [162] On 4 March 2010, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs recognized the massacres of 1915 as "genocide. [133] Since the 1960s many Armenian bilingual schools have been established in communities throughout the country. [186][187], Christina Maranci is the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts University. [46] Almost 90% had moved in the previous two decades (57,960)[47] and lived in California (57,482). Armenians across Southern California have been protesting to bring attention to the deadly and escalating conflict in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. [30] In the 1950s, most Armenian immigrants in the US were from Soviet Armenia and Turkey. [29] The total number of Soviet Armenian emigrants from 1956 to 1989, over 80% of them to the US, is estimated at 77,000. If military conflict alone did it, wed be done, but were not done.. Los Angeles is now home to the largest Armenian population in the U.S., and the second largest in the world next to Moscow. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Los Angeles city, California QuickFacts Los Angeles city, California Table (a) Includes persons reporting only one race (c) Economic Census - Puerto Rico data are not comparable to U.S. Economic Census data (b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories [135], Most Armenian Americans are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the largest Oriental Orthodox church in the US. Soviet Armenians, on the other hand, were mostly genocide survivors who never fully integrated into Soviet life after their repatriation in the 1940s. When the Hood Rubber Company (later joined with B.F. Goodrich) opened in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1896. )", 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. Armenia Fund raises millions of dollars every year for infrastructural development in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. A majority of Armenian-speakers (115,017) were foreign-born. World Region and Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 1960 to 2000", "Table FBP-1. According to the 2000 Census, the states with largest Armenian populations were California (204,631), Massachusetts (28,595), New York (24,460), New Jersey (17,094), Michigan (15,746), Florida (9,226), Pennsylvania (8,220), Illinois (7,958), Rhode Island (6,677) and Texas (4,941). Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. [147] A small number of Armenian Americans are followers of the Armenian Catholic Church. The protest came as Azerbaijan and Armenia accuse each other of violating a cease-fire deal, brokered by Russia, that took effect at noon . A number of restaurants function in the Los Angeles area and other locations with high concentration of Armenian-Americans. Elliott: Kings use their heads over hearts in trading Jonathan Quick, A $150,000 executive protection dog? [16][17][18] The New York Times talked of about 10,000 Armenians in the US in 1895. 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. The number of Armenians who migrated to the US from 1820 to 1898 is estimated to be around 4,000. [150], Tens of amateur Armenian folk dance ensembles have been founded in the United States in the last decades. Foe And College Basketball Force, Dies", "Armenian Wrestler Named As New WWE Champion", "Robert Zildjian Dead: Founder of Sabian Cymbal Company Dies at 89", "Alexis Ohanian: Being Armenian means triumph to me", "Kirk Kerkorian is not offended by Armenia", "Christmas Tree Shops founder Charles Bilezikian remembered as friendly to all", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Armenian_Americans&oldid=1139061678. [50] The 20092013 American Community Survey estimates put the number of Armenian-speakers at 237,840. Armenians across Southern California have been protesting to bring attention to the deadly and escalating conflict in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. [27], In total, 81,729 Armenians entered the US from 1899 to 1931 according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 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. A group of elected officials gathered at Los Angeles City Hall on Monday to decry the deadly conflict between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan and call on the Trump . Takooshian, Harold. 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. [212] Major league pitchers Steve Bedrosian and his son, Cam Bedrosian, are of Armenian descent. His acting career spanned over 6 decades. [139] The Western Diocese was established in 1927. His father, Levon, was born in the village of Passen, near Erzurum, and his mother, Satenig, was born in the village of Govdun, near Sivas.[193]. A number of Armenians have entered into politics. After the Bolsheviks invaded and annexed Armenia in 1920, Ramgavars and Hunchaks formed a coalition supporting Soviet Armenia, while the ARF, which had been the ruling party of the Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920, remained anti-Soviet in the diaspora. Zach Bogosian is the first NHL player of Armenian descent. Second generation Armenian American writers include Peter Balakian, Nancy Kricorian, Carol Edgarian, Michael J. Arlen, Arthur Nersesian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, Hrag Vartanian, and others.[179]. The largest of such gatherings occurs in the Los Angeles area. Armenian-born singers that have lived or live in the US include rock singer pop singers Harout Pamboukjian[172] and Armenchik.[173]. A generation of leaders born in America also began to exert itself. 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. Currently, two congresswoman of Armenian ancestry, Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, are in the office, both Democrats from California. In later decades, particularly since the 1960s Middle Eastern Armenians immigrated to Michigan. ", "Kim Kardashian: How do Armenians feel about her fame? [96], The Northern Californian Armenian population is not as populous as the Southern portion of the state. [104] Today, estimates say that Armenians number from 50,000 to 70,000 in the Greater Boston area. The city of Glendale in the Los Angeles metropolitan area is widely thought to be the center of Armenian American life (although many Armenians live in the aptly named "Little Armenia" neighborhood of Los Angeles[3]). But Gamaghelyan said another part of the problem is that both countries block certain information. He is also the co-founder of the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation and the managing editor of the Caucasus Edition: Journal of Conflict Transformation. The absence of meaningful negotiations made eventual war more and more likely, he said. (, ) 2005 2015 . The protest at CNN was because they werent giving correct information. 1 Andre Agassi. [55], Armenians from Lebanon, where they had effectively established an active community, are more politicized,[56] while Turkish Armenians are mostly connected with the Armenian Apostolic Church. It must also demand others like Turkey stay out of this conflict. According to Shawn Dorman, the author of Inside a U.S. embassy, the main goal of Armenian lobby is the "persuasion of US Congress to favor Armenian interests, especially to recognize the Armenian genocide." In 1910, the number of Armenian speakers in the US was 23,938. Los Angeles, California: Dating Angeles is a sprawling the that happens app be home to a very large Armenian community. Hairenik (, "Fatherland") is published since 1899 in Boston. Armenians in Lebanon and Iran are even represented in the parliaments as ethnic minorities. 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. ", "One-Man Show Tells Pulitzer-Prize Winning Author's Story", "Ai Weiwei is named ArtReview's 'most powerful artist', "For Canadians, Thanksgiving Is a 'Quieter' Affair in October", "Gregory H. Adamian, 89; former Bentley College president", "Istanbul-born MIT professor named world's most influential economist", "Daron Acemoglu Named Most Influential Economist", "Department of Art and Art History: People", "Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor Who Helped End Lives", "Jacob 'Jack' Kevorkian Dies; Death With Dignity Proponent Remembered", "Jerry Tarkanian, 84, N.C.A.A. Chahinian is from Beirut, and both her grandparents were refugees and survivors of the genocide. In 2000, an East Hollywood neighborhood was designated Little Armenia. Theyre going to finish what they started, the genocide. (CBSLA) The demonstration happened in the 11700 block of Wilshire Boulevard and was organized by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The Armenian community has been described as "highly educated, professional and prospering. L.A. Affairs: My divorce isnt contagious. [220] Christmas Tree Shops, a chain of small stores, was founded by Charles Bilezikian and his wife. Southern California is home of one of the largest Armenian diasporas. Rouben Mamoulian was a film and theater director and also known as co-producer of the first feature film (Becky Sharp, 1935) to use the three-strip Technicolor process. Total migrant stock at mid-year by origin and by major area, region, country or area of destination, 1990-2019", United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, "Table 3. It was a major destination for early Armenian immigrants from the Ottoman Armenia, many of whom were engaged in agriculture. The cease-fire is expected to begin Saturday at noon. The tiny mountainous South Caucasus enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, referred to by Armenians by its historical name, Artsakh, is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but its population of 150,000 is mostly ethnic Armenian. Drastamat Kanayan (Dro), the Defense Minister of Armenia from 1918 to 1919, lived in America after World War II and was shortly arrested for collaborating with the Nazis. CHIEFLY CARPET AND RUG MAKERS Among Them Are Silk Weavers, Shoemakers, and Wiremakers -- Numbers Employed in New-Jersey Factories", "Immigrant Aliens Admitted to the United States by ethnicity, 18991931", "A Rural Heritage Clashes With Armenians' Dream", "Rank of States for Selected Ancestry Groups with 100,00 or more persons: 1980", "1990 Census of Population Detailed Ancestry Groups for States", "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates", "International migrant stock 2019: Table 1. [72] The Armenian National Committee of America,[73] The Armenian Weekly,[74] The Armenian Reporter,[75] and Reuters offer the highest number, at around 1,500,000 Armenian Americans. 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 . In the field of the contemporary art and performance, some notable American artist of Armenian heritage include Nina Katchadourian, Eric Bogosian, Tabboo! [132] As of 2007, 41% of US-born Armenians had at least a 4-year college degree. He was posthumously awarded with National Hero of Armenia title. He is also known for Reagan's characterization of 1915 events as "genocide" in 1981. ", Forgotten Bread: First-Generation Armenian American Writers, ed. Singer Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian). For comparison, about 6% of Italian Americans, 32% of Greek Americans and 70% of Albanian Americans speak their ancestral language. In the days and weeks before a cease-fire was announced late Friday, thousands gathered outside the Azerbaijan Consulate in Los Angeles, blocked traffic on the 101 and 170 freeways, marched in Glendale and assembled in front of the buildings of CNN and the Los Angeles Times. [62][63][64] However, in the city of Glendale, California, where Armenians compose 27% of city's total population, only 17% of the crime in the city were committed by Armenians in 2006. Shekerjian also gave numerous speeches during the war encouraging Americans of Armenian descent to enlist. [137] It was reported that 80% of Armenian Americans are Armenian Apostolic, 10% are Protestant (mostly Armenian Evangelical) and 3% are Armenian Catholic. [109] Worcester, Massachusetts was also a major center for Armenian immigrants in the early part of the twentieth century. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 allowed people displaced during the World War II to immigrate to the US. During the Armenian Genocide, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire deported and killed 1.5 million Armenians. Projections 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000 Population 12,534,000 From 1992 to 2010 the US provided nearly $2 billion, the highest per capita amount for a post-Soviet state. Eastern Armenian is primarily spoken in Armenia and Iran, though the Iranian Armenians have their own dialect; in the United States, speakers of Eastern Armenian are primarily immigrants from the former Soviet Union who mostly arrived during the 1990s, or their children. Lawyer Gregory H. Adamian served as president of Bentley University from 1970 to 1991, during which he oversaw dramatic growth of the university.[183]. There are various social activities to attend for the Armenian community every day. There was a sense that this was the big one, she said. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame overcomes deficit to win Mission League opener, California to alter COVID rules in healthcare settings: Masks and vaccinations not required, Welcome to the world, baby Winter, born amid a snowstorm in Lake Arrowhead, Gripped by grace: Thousands gather for Bishop OConnells funeral Mass, Civilian oversight commission calls for sheriff to outlaw deputy gangs, ban their rituals, Bullets fly amid wild chase on streets of Los Angeles. Other notable Armenian Americans also include: Oscar H. Banker (inventor of automatic transmissions for automobiles), and Luther Simjian (inventor of automated teller machines). 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. This upset the Dashnak members present in the ceremony. [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. The borders were always shifting because everyone was always gerrymandering.. [194] George Deukmejian became the Republican governor of California in 1983 and left the office in 1991. [154] The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) have as their main lobbying agenda the pressing of Congress and the US president for the reduction of economic and military assistance to Turkey and efforts to include reaffirmation of a genocide by Ottoman Turkey in 1915. The German ethnographer Caroline Thon puts their number at 800,000,[65] a number also offered by Dr. Harold Takooshian of Fordham University. Armenian Americans gather in multiple towns and cities every year on 24 April for the recognition of the Armenian genocide. 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. The U.S. has given around $17 million to Azerbaijan in 2020 alone, while simultaneously granting military equipment as well. He was a recipient the National Humanities Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 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. [136][140][143] After the World War II, Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan led the church through a second founding, which saw the framing of by-laws to govern the diocese, the creation of a nationwide youth organization. Queens is home to some 50,000 Armenian Americans, Manhattan has 10,000 Armenian population centered in Gramercy Park, Kips Bay and Murray Hill, where St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral is. [22] Like Italians, for whom this practice was known as campanilismo, Armenian communities were often formed by people from the same village or town in the Ottoman Empire. Ada Tseng is an assistant editor on the Utility Journalism team at the Los Angeles Times. Previously he had served as state assemblyman (19631967), state senator (19671979) and California Attorney General (19791983). [55] According to the 2000 Census 9,884 Armenians lived in Fresno County at the time. Asbarez (, "Arena") is the only daily, published in Los Angeles since 1908. ", Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Volume XXa, " --", " Weekly - . [209] Armenian-born chess players Tatev Abrahamyan and Varuzhan Akobian have represented the US in Chess Olympiad. There are those who left in the years following independence during economic hardship. They know their life is at risk but they dont care. [1] Various organizations and media criticize these numbers as an underestimate, proposing 800,000 to 1,500,000 Armenian Americans instead. [124], Between 1910 and 1970, the language of only the foreign-born population in the United States was taken into account. Ive been hearing colleagues and friends saying, Where else are we supposed to go? she said. [221], Other notable Armenian Americans include astronaut James P. Bagian, who became the first Armenian to travel into space in 1989. But Turkey and Azerbaijan vigorously denied that. Several official US documents describe the events as "genocide" (1975,[158][159] 1984,[160] 1996);[161] President Ronald Reagan also described the events as "genocide" in a speech on 22 April 1981. Many Armenians think that the US has the ability to force Turkey to recognize the past and pay Armenians and Armenia their reparations, that includes (for some) the return of the so-called Wilsonian Armenia to the Republic of Armenia. [113][112] There is also a small Armenian community in Portland, Maine; this community was founded in 1896 and is currently represented by the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine (ACAME). The first Armenian to hold a high position office was Republican Steven Derounian, a Bulgarian-born Armenian, represented New York from 1953 to 1965 in the House of Representatives. A woman holds a sign during a protest outside the Los Angeles Times headquarters in El Segundo on Tuesday. The war, which Armenians call the Artsakh Liberation War, ended with close to 30,000 people dead, with Armenians in charge of the region and no real solution to the problem. October 20, 2020 The Armenian American population is a beating heart of Los Angeles, tucked away into the vibrant and comforting charm of Glendale. The conflict reached a crisis on 24 December 1933, when several members of ARF assassinated Archbishop Tourian during the Christmas Eve service in New York's Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church. Azeri soldiers wearing Armenian uniforms may be shot by their own troops. [171] Mike Conners (born Krekor Ohanian), is the actor who starred in the long-running TV series Mannix, for which he earned a Golden Globe award in 1970. [136] It possesses over 90 churches throughout the nation. The estimated numbers of Armenians of Southern California vary greatly: 250,000,[79] 350,000,[78] 400,000,[65] 450,000,[80] 500,000,[6] although the 2000 census reported 152,910 Armenians in Los Angeles County. [23] Before the start of the World War I, there were already 60,000 Armenians in the US. So theres a very good chance of it becoming another hot spot of international competitions., At the end of the day, there needs to be a peaceful negotiated solution, Ghazarian said. 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). The top states with Armenian church followers were Massachusetts, Michigan, California and New York. This page in: English; . People are talking about genocide and ethnic cleansing, but its not being thrown around lightly. [60] Iranian Armenians are known for fast integration into American society;[61] for example, only 31% of Armenian Americans born in Iran claim not to speak English well. 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). [8], During the Civil War three Armenian doctorsSimeon Minasian, Garabed Galstian, and Baronig Matevosianworked at military hospitals in Philadelphia. Decades later when the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, even more Armenians fled to the United States as refugees, creating an even larger diaspora. Caucasus has always been in the middle of three empires, said Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. Azerbaijan has technically closed off their social media outside of the country, he said. "[157] Fund for Armenian Relief is a humanitarian organization providing long-term programs focusing on human development. Los Angeles is considered one of the main centers of Armenian music production of the last decades. "[85], Glendale, just a few miles away from Downtown Los Angeles, has a population of about 200,000, of which, according to some estimates, 40% is Armenian. The first Armenian Apostolic church in America, named Church of Our Savior, was built in 1891 in Worcester. [87] [88] [89] According to the 2000 Census 53,840 people or 27% of the population identified themselves Armenian in Glendale. However, the community is hurting as Turkey's invasion of Armenia feels all too familiar to the attempt at the eradication of the Armenian people more than 100 years ago. Sebouh (Steve) Tashjian, a California Armenian originally from Jerusalem, served as Minister of Energy, while Lebanese-born Gerard Libaridian, a Boston-based historian, was President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's adviser. Many Armenians immigrated to Los Angeles in two significant waves. Since the turn of the century there been a trend towards an increase in number of Armenians living outside of traditional settlement areas. Turkey is vocally supporting Azerbaijan. [126][127] The 1990 US Census revealed 308,096 people of Armenian ancestry at the time and 149,694 people who indicated Armenian as their native language. Ambassadors 'Decipher' Armenian American Diaspora", "Teotig: The First Historian of Armenian Printing", " [The American Civil War as Illuminated in the Armenian Periodical Press]", "The Civil War's only Armenian soldier to be honored", "OUR ARMENIAN NEIGHBORS; There Are About Ten Thousand of Them in This Country. The first ever Armenian Olympic medalist, Hal Haig Prieste, won a bronze medal diving in 1920 Antwerp Games. [57] About 1/3 of all Turkish Armenians in America are self-employed. The city council file on the adoption states that "the area contains a high concentration of Armenian businesses and residents and social and cultural institutions including schools, churches, social and athletic organizations. Out of all the cities in the United States, Los Angeles has the largest population of Armenians. [82] The city of Los Angeles itself had an Armenian population of 64,997 in 2000. [104] Chicago's Armenians also first settled in the city in the late 19th century in small numbers, but it increased through the 20th century,[117] reaching about 25,000 by today. 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. Although Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, it is governed by Armenians and consists of a 95% Armenian population. [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.