The topic of Armenian immigration in both the past and present are not well spoken for and not well known. I myself am Armenian and so I am passionate about Armenian history and their experiences in the middle east and America. After the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Armenians have scattered and spread throughout the world but most Armenians are still located in the middle east and those who could or can came to the United States. This act of destruction by the Turkish started the waves of all Armenian immigration. Before World War I there were two million Armenians living in Armenia but by 1922, post genocide, there were fewer than 400,000, and during the genocide about 1.5 million Armenians were killed so Armenia is an extremely small country. …show more content…
In the 1950’s, there was a large rise in Arab nationalism that “led to the emigration of tens and thousands of Armenians from Islamic countries throughout the Middle East.” (Armenian Immigration) During this time of “increasing Arab and Turkish nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism and socialism”, Armenians living in the middle east had no safety at all. (Lehman, Jeffrey) At the time, “700,000 Armenians immigrated to Europe or the United States.” (Lehman, Jeffrey) Krikor, an Armenian who resided in Aleppo, Syria, stayed in Syria for four years and had to rebuilt it twice because bombs had hit his home two times. “His wife had shrapnel lodged in her leg and chest after a bomb tore down their neighbor’s house but the family refused to leave their home in the city’s Armenian Quarter.” Then a bomb almost took his best friend and his family from and three days post the bomb he packed “he packed his wife and two daughters into a tac and fled for Lebanon.” (Collard, Rebecca) Those Armenian immigrants from the mid 1950’s and Krikor from present day both had no choice but to immigrate out of their homes because of violence and persecution toward them and those around them. Mr. Barin, an Armenian immigrant whom I interviewed, lived in Turkey in the 1960’s which was not ideal because “there were still lots of turkish terrorist trying to kill Armenians” and he too later found refuge in America because America provided him a better life. (Mr.