Armenian Communities in the Middle East («Միջին Արեվելքի Հայկական Համայնքները Պարտադրված և Անորոշ Ապագայի Միջեվ»)

This article discusses the contemporary internal and external critical issues facing the Armenian communities in the Middle East. With population estimates at about 300,000 spread in some 10 countries in the region, the Armenians are a minority within the wide spectrum of confessional, religious and ethnic non-Muslim communities in these countries. Internally, questions of integration, assimilation, preservation and maintenance of community institutions are among the most hotly debated issues. Externally, the security situation and ongoing armed conflicts, as well as the escalation of religious fundamentalism in recent years pose serious questions about the future viability of the Armenian communities in the Middle East. These processes are exacerbated by declining socio-economic conditions which have caused mass migration of Christians in general and the Armenians in particular. Over the last 100 years since the Armenian Genocide and dispersion throughout the Middle East, the Armenians have invested the equivalent of billions of dollars in money, labour and community efforts to establish and perpetuate their culture, language, and traditions. However, the continuing exodus of the Armenians out of the Middle East seems to speed up the socio-cultural demise of one of the most ancient Christian communities in the region