Armenian Diaspora Main Lobbying Agendas in the United States in the 21st Century

• Author: Monika Machowska
• Position: Ph.D. Student, Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland)
• Pages: 52-62

Ukrainian Policymaker, Volume 6, 2020

52

Armenian Diaspora Main Lobbying Agendas

in the United States in the 21st Century

Monika Machowska1

Ph.D. Student, Jagiellonian University (Cracow, Poland)

E-mail: monika.machowska@student.uj.edu.pl

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8347-9093

Machowska, Monika (2020) Armenian Diaspora Main Lobbying Agendas in the United States

in the 21st Century. Ukrainian Policymaker, Volume 6, 52-62. https://doi.org/10.29202/up/6/6

This article is an introduction to the subject matter of the main points of interest for the Armenian

lobbying groups in the United States of America. This ethnic community has become the second-largest

group of Armenians living outside the Republic of Armenia and currently the most politically active. Not

only do they aect their host country policy and economy of the homeland, but Armenian Americans

aim to act on behalf of the whole global diaspora. In particular, they are lobbying for the recognition

of the Armenian genocide and adopting specic policies towards Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, and

Turkey. The involvement of the Armenian minority in the United States of America goes beyond political

and economic issues. Diaspora has managed to create academic centers at American universities

researching Armenian culture, history, and language, as well as funding collections of Armenian art.

In 2020 the construction of the Armenian Americans Museum will begin. The mission of the center

will be to document the experience of Armenian migration. These initiatives are part of specic ethnic

“soft power.” Armenian Americans lobbying groups have succeeded in passing Resolution 150 in the

United States of America. Congress that recognizes as a genocide mass killing of Armenians in the

Ottoman Empire. This is the result of almost 50 years of diaspora operations, always blocked by the

Turkish lobby. Although relatively few, compared to the entire United States of America population, the

Armenian Americans community continues to pursue their goals successfully. In 2015, as part of the

celebration of the anniversary of the Genocide, the Armenian diaspora established a series of charitable

events and funded the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. Today, the largest number of American

Armenians live on the West Coast of the United States of America, and Los Angeles has become the center

of the diaspora. As a result of the actions of its social organizations, state schools have created classes

for pupils speaking Armenian. Since 2010, the days of remembrance of Genocide have been ocially

celebrated in California. To identify the most critical factors, this article is based on various data from

ocial United States of America government sources, monographs, and scientic articles, as well as

press materials and geopolitics web portals.

Keywords: Armenian Americans, diaspora, ethnic group, minority, United States of America, ethnic

lobbying

Received: May 16, 2020; accepted: June 12, 2020

© Machowska, Monika, 2020