Thursday, May 28, 2009

Waves of Armenian Immigration

It is normal to say that Armenians are an international nation as as a nation, members of it can be found living just beside many other nations in many other countries. Here it is a short view of how Armenians came to America.
The first real wave of immigration from Armenia to the United States was in the 1890s. Before then, there were only about 70 Armenians in US, and most of these immigrants planned to return to Armenia after they finished their education. From 1890-1914, about 64,000 Turkish Armenians came to the United States before WWI. After 1920, a second wave of 30,771 Armenian refugees fled to the United States until 1924 when immigration restrictions limited the number of Armenian immigrants to 150 per year. A third wave of immigration came following WWII, when 700,000 Armenians immigrated to Europe or the United States. It is unknown exactly how many immigrants came to the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates about 60,000 Armenians came between 1980-1989.
As some push factors it can be mentioned that as the Ottoman Empire began to fall apart in the 1890s, rich Christian minorities were targeted and violently persecuted. Turkish nationalism was on the rise and Christians were treated like 'non-Muslin infidels', many of these people were Armenian, and this encouraged immigration to the United States. From 1915-1920, there was a government organized genocide of a million Armenians. After WWI, survivors of the genocide escaped to the United States, and these people made up the second wave. After WWII, increasing Arab and Turkish nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and socialism threatened Armenians in the Middle East.As some pull factors it can be mentioned that many Armenians came as refugees fleeing persecution. The 'pull' to the United States was far weaker than the 'push', as most Armenians came to escape violence in their home countries. Immigrants came to join the few relatives or friends who had come to the United States earlier. Immigrants had greater freedom and safety in the United States, and they would not be persecuted.

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