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Armenian community in the Republic of Macedonia
About 110 families cherish both the Armenian and the Macedonian culture
The genesis of the Armenian communities on the territory of today’s Macedonia goes back to the medieval times as can be proved by the numerous papers, traveling notes by foreign travelers who stayed or passed through the towns where among other nations, lived the Armenians. The economic power created conditions for establishing a bigger Armenian community by the end of the 18th, and especially in the beginning of the 19th century, when a certain number of Armenians used to go to the universities in Venice, Vienna and Leipzig to return afterwards to Macedonia as famous doctors, pharmacists, professors, etc. In a way, they were the nucleus of the intellectuals in the Macedonian towns. A bigger wave of Armenians who came to live in Macedonia was noted by the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century after the Armenian exodus, especially after 1915 when the Armenian community in Skopje grew bigger. At that time, there were also smaller Armenian communities in other towns in Macedonia like Tetovo, Stip, Prilep, Kocani, etc.
“Today, the Armenian community in Macedonia has about 110 families who equally cherish both, the Armenian and the Macedonian tradition and culture since we are all Macedonians with Armenian origin. Our roots are Armenian, indeed, but we are all well integrated in the Macedonian society and the first thing we tend to do is to contribute to enriching the Macedonian multicultural matrix in Macedonia”, said the president of the Armenian association, Jasminka Namiceva, who also announced that this year, the members are going to work on the project called “Community’s genesis throughout the centuries” and present the work and the personality of the Armenian writer William Saroyan through an exhibition, projection of his film and by translating his book entitled “My name is Aram”. In cooperation with the famous musician Zoran Dzorlev, the young members of the association are going to organize an Armenian music concert and they will also work in the summer camps in Bulgaria together with the Armenian community there. We finished the translation in Armenian of the project “Planetarium” by Kiro Urdin, which is our contribution to the year of promoting world languages. By the end of the year, we will have organized several exhibitions to present the works of our artists Balabanian and Pilojan. Anyway, we cannot wait for the opening of the Saturday school for Armenian language. On 24 April every year, without exception, a “panihida” takes place at the Orthodox Church to honor the genocide against the Armenians that took place in 1915 thus paying tribute to our killed ancestors”, added Namiceva.
K.B.
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