Armenia

Let me tell you about my people.

An innocent people, storied in its history.

My people are proud, dignified, and compassionate -

I am one of my people, humble in my knowledge . . .

I must be . . . I am compelled to be, by a higher calling -

I am an Armenian, and an Armenian I shall remain.

The Armenians

The Armenians are one of the most ancient people in the world. With roots going as far as 2000 B.C. Armenia is located in the Near East, between Turkey and Iran. There are only 7 million of us left, so you mustve never heard of us.By race, we are unlike any. We look like semites, we look like persians, we look like iranians, we have their blood in us, but we are classified as the Armenoid race. Short to average height, brown to white skin, dark hair, dark eyes, sharp nose, sometime aquiline, very strong bones, and sometimes short legs. We are Mid-Eastern, but believe it or not, we have a lot of Aryan background.Our language is unlike any other,but is considered Indo-European, not Semitic. The closest race to us are Iranians, but there is one thing about us, for nearly 2 thousand years we were, and we are the only christian country in the Middle East.Below is the history of the Armenian race.

Armenian History

The Origins

By the bible, the first life began in the Armenian Plateau,as Noah landed on mountain Ararat.Armenia’s culture is older than Europe, it is older than Greece and Rome. The first written mention of a unified country of people inhabiting the Armenian plateau is in a Sumerian Map dated 2400-2300 BCE, which mentions a people living in the "land (country) of the mountain where the gods meet".

The Birth

About 1200 B.C. the kingdom of Urartu was formed, covering the lands of the later Armenia. Urartu bordered its greatest nemesis, kingdom of Assyria.8th century B.C. the barbaric group of Indo-Europeans called the Hay tribe, inhabited the mountain areas of Urartu.Urartus destiny came to an end when in 600 B.C. the barbarians from the north, invaded. The Cimmerians(ala Conan), the dark warriors from the Black Sea, were retreating from the Scyths, they sacked and overweakened Urartu, followed by the Medians and The Scyths. The kingdom was destroyed, and later on Assyria also fell under their rule.These tribes lived with Armenian Ancestors and other tribes and formed a hybrid culture which is the beginning of an extant Armenian identity, including an Indo-European language and Aryan features (tall with blonde-hair and blue-eyes) among the people.

Armenia

And thus, around 520 B.C. the king of Persia, Darius the I'st mentions of Armenia, a country in the Asia Minor. During those years Armenia fell under Persias rule.

Alexander The Great

And then after two hundred years of persian rule, from the west came the greatest conqueror in the history of the world, Alexander of Macedon. With his small army Alexander conquered Asia Minor, conquered Armenia without a fight, conquered Eypt and then he defeated the entire Persian army at Gaugamels, 331 B.C.Thousand of Armenian troops aided Darius during the batlle.And so Amenia became a part of the Seleucid Kingdom(Alexanders Empire).

Tigranes and The Armenian Empire

During the fall of the Seleucid Kingdom, and rise of the Parthian empire, Armenian was free. It was divided in two parts, lesser Armenia, and Greater armenia. And then Tigranes the Great, came to the trone, 95-55 B.C. And he expanded Armenia thrice its size.He conquered Cilicia, Syria, what is present day Iraq, thus extending Armenian borders from the Caspian sea, all the way to the Mediterranean. Tigranes defeated the Parthian Empire and gained the title of, KIng of Kings, becoming the most powerfull empire in the world.The Republic of Armenia today makes up 10% of this territory.

Fall of The Armenian Empire

In the west, Rome, after defeating Carthage, now was becoming a powerfull empire.74 B.C. They conquered Greece, Egypt, and declared Mithradates VI king of Pontus, father to Tigranes's wife,as Romes greatest nemesis. Pompey, dictator of Rome send a messenger to Tigranes asking him to have a truce between the countries, and that Rome shall never bother Armenia if they get Mithradates. Tigranes, laughed at Rome, underestimated their power. So Rome, fearing Tigranes 60,000 man army went to war againts Armenia.Pompeys victories succeded, and the Empire was destroyed, but Rome could not conquer the small Armenia itself.

The Gift

Artavasd II son of Tigranes, came to the throne at 55 B.C.He ruled until 34 B.C. Mark Anthony conquered Armenia, he captured Artavasd and his family and gave them as a gift to his beloved, Cleopatra.Mark Antony ordered the king to bow down before Cleopatra, and accept her as his queen. But the Armenian had too much honor, and pride, and he did not bow. Artavasd was executed, but his son escaped to Armenia and let a rebellion that destroyed Mark Anthonys troops.

The Romans

Armenia was not free for long, Armenians betrayed their new king, and stabbed him to death at his throne. And Octavious Ceasar, the new dictator of Rome, took Armenia without a fight, and placed their own king at the throne.The next hundreds of years Armenia was mostly under the Roman rule, with a few rebellion sparks.

The Religion

The Armenians had gods juts like the Greeks and Romans.There was Aramasd, the god of the sky, Anahit, the mother of Armenia, Miher god of war, and Vahagn, the god of fire born in the purple sea. Vahagn perhaps was a symbol of their power, when in his tale he kills the great Vishap(dragon) and saves Armenia.But when the word of the Jesus of Nazareth came to Armenia, they became a christian state. In 301 Armenia became the first country in the world, to accept christianity as a religion.Our church is unlike any, our customs are pretty same as the catholic, with the exception that we believe, Jesus is one and only God.

The Alphabet

Mesrop Mastosh, was a historian, and he created the modern day Armenian alphabet in 405 A.D.This day is still celebrated in Armenia.

Vardan Mamikonian

Vardan Mamikonian is one of the greatest heroes in Armenian history.He lead a rebellion againts the Persian Army in 451 A.D.The war was known as "Vardanak"."Taking away our religion, is like trying to wipe off the color of our skin"-were the words of Vardan. He died in battle but he defeated the enemy, and freed Armenia.His words that "each and everyone of us shall die fighting, but we will not,could not, cannot betray our religion."- still remain in the hearts of all of us.

Later Years

591 A.D. Armenia once again was divided between Iran and Byzantine empire. Over the years, we were conquered by the Arabs and the Persians, and our rebellions only freed us for a moment of time.In 12th century the Mongols ivaded, thus conquering Armenia.

The Turks

During those years, our greatest nemesis, the Seljuk Turks came from the east and settled in Asia Minor, creating a huge empire, The Ottoman.They accepted Islam as their religion, and declared the Christians as the enemy.That lead to all the crusades. In 1515 Armenia was conquered by the Ottoman empire, and later divided between Iran.

The Russians

19 century A.D. Russia signed a peace contract with Armenia, and went to war With Iran, freeing north Armenian territories.In 1877 Russia went to war with the Ottoman empire.The Ottoman empire was falling apart, the Bulgarians, gained their freedom, as well as the Albanians and the Greeks.So they decided to take their fury on us.

The Genocide

"I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia." -William Saroyan.

Above is the speech of the Turks written by the great Armenian-American Author, William Saroyan.In the summer of 1894 the Turkish army sacked the greatest town in armenian history, Sassun. Between 1894-1896 over 300 thousand Armenians were masscared.The massacres continued, and then the World War started.And then on april 24, 1915 the Genocide struck.The Young Turks leaded the ethnic cleansing of thge Armenians. 1,700,000 people were massacred, children burned to death,women raped, 600 thousands were sent to the desert, were most of them died,300 thousand took refuge in Russia, 400 in America, and the rest in the Middle East.Not a soul was left after it...

The End Of Armenia

The Armenian war lord, Andranik lead a massacre againts the Turks, keeping the Turks away from their small piece of land. Then the Russians,who promised us freedom, took over, quickly crushed our rebellion and place communist leaders all over the country. At that time Armenia was twice its size than it is today. Russia gave the west Armenia to Turkey, east to Azerbadjan(Turkish Country),and south to Iran. And Armenia itself became part of Russia. And in 1921 Armenia existed no more,the country that was once world power was now divided between Iran,Iraq,Syria,Turkey, and Russia.

The Quake and The Russian State

Now we are known as the country which existed, as the Black Russians, as the Russian Republic.In 1988 an earthquake struck Armenia, 250,000 were left without a home. It was the worst earthquake in history.In 1988 a war broke out between Armenia and Azerbadjan, the 260,000 Armenians in azerbadjan took refuge after series of massacres(I was one of them).70,000 were killed.And another war started.

The Rebirth

In 1991 Soviet Empire fell, and we gained our freedom. Armenia was a country again.The rebirth had started, we won the war againts Azerbaijan in 1994 and got the east Armenia(Karabakh) back.But the NATO wont accept it as a part of Armenia, and thats why its not yet on the maps.We will reign, and we will rise, and built a new Armenia. And we shall have payback, and rebuilt Sassun.

Armenia Today

The Turks deny of the Genocide ever occuring, not a single Turk apologized for destroying our ancient race.Nobody today knows of Armenia, we are only known as a part of the former Soviet Union, which leads the people to think were Eastern European, then they ask me in which part of South America is Armenia located at, or that were Arabs. But people on the east-coast know. Glandale, California has the largest Armenian community, second only to the Armenia itself. In California there are over 600,000 of us, 200 thousand of which in Glendale.We are coming up big time.

Armenian Life

Armenian Gangs

The lifestyle is great, In LA we are known as the dark, cool people, who are often rich and all drive BMW's.People might not like us because we are really violent people, its in our blood due to the thousands of years of betrayal and suffering.Armenian Gangs are bad in LA. Hispanic and Black street gang members account for most violent gang crimes; however, Asian, Pacific Island, and Armenian gangs are becoming more active and menacing. Armenian gangs control all the territory in Glendale, hurting the honest Armenian citizens.Armenian organized crime is involed also in extortion, auto theft, loan sharking, as well as insurance, fuel, telecommunication, and credit card frauds. Extortion- Five members of an Armenian organized group in Los Angeles were convicted in 1994 for extortion, kidnaping, and attempted murder, They forcibly detained and threatened victims and their families with great harm unless they paid the suspects with money. This group is believed to have extorted from the Armenian community of Los Angeles for the last 13 years.Fuel frauds, mostly in Los Angeles and New York, cost both federal and state governments approximately $2 billion annually in tax revenue. The majority of the fuel frauds are commited by Armenian organized crime groups operating in Southern California. On September 13, 1995, 13 Armenian subjects were arrested and charged with racketeering, including multiple acts of mail and wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, and distribution of heroin and other narcotic controlled substances. The Russian Armenian group, called the Mikaelian Organization, after the group's leader and self professed "godfather" of the Russian(Armenian) Mafia, Hovsep Mikaelian, ran a black market diesel fuel network that supplied gas stations and truck stops throughout Southern California.According to the U.S. Aftorney in Los Angeles, this group managed to avoid paying $3.6 million in taxes in just one year.On May 4, 1995, seven kilos of heroin was seized from a member of an Armenian organized crime group based in the Glendale area. The heroin came from the Middle East and was intended for distribution in the United States.These organizations are plaging our communities and giving Armenians a bad reputations.

Famous Armenians

There are a lot of fomous people that you dont even know they are Armenian. Cher is Armenian, Andre Agassi is Armenian,Gray Kasparov, the chess champ, is Armenian, Dr.Kevorkian is Armenian, believe it or not, James Bagian, the astronaut(hey weve even been in space),a lot of actors, and anyone whos last name ends in -yan or-ian.

I will update these sections from time to time, in the meanwhile if ypou have any questions just e-mail me or sign the guetsbook. Also check out the new upcoming section on my page, dedicated to the Armeniann epic hero, David of Sassun.(Sasuntsi Davit').