Mihai Stepan CAZAZIAN
The oldest findings prove the presence of Armenians on the present territory of Romania more precisely in Moldavia, in an inscription on a tombstone in Cetatea-Albă, dated A.D. 967. The Hungarian chroniclers Simon of Kezai and Thuroczi recorded that, under Duke Géza and King Stephen (997-1038), a large number of Armenians settled in the kingdom, together with Poles, Greeks, and Spaniards, and that they were given special privileges and even noble titles.
The Armenians who came from Moldavia were traders, craftsmen and, generally speaking, wealthy people. Due to their privileges and skills in trading, they contributed to Moldavia’s prosperity. Historian Nicolae Iorga wrote that: ”The Principality of Moldavia was created through trade and the traders collaborated to the creation of the national state in Moldavia. In this way, the Armenians were, so to speak, founding fathers of Moldavia”.
In Wallachia (the southern parts of Romania) the Armenians settled a bit later, during the 14th century (they were mentioned between the years 1400 and 1435), in Bucharest, Târgovişte, Piteşti, Craiova, and Giurgiu. After the year 1500, their presence was signalled in the Dobroudja as well.
The most important document that can even be considered a ”birth certificate” for the Armenians in this area is the hrisov (the princely edict) dated July 30th, 1401, in which the Moldavian Prince Alexandru cel Bun (Alexander the Good, 1400-1431) agrees that an Armenian bishop be named head of the church in Suceava, the capital of Moldavia. This original document can be found in the Armenian Episcopal Archives in Lviv (present-day Ukraine). Another document issued by Prince Alexandru cel Bun in 1407 invites Armenians from Poland to settle in Moldavia and thus contribute to the prosperity of the country, and offers them duty and tax exemptions. Due to this document, 700 Armenians settled in Suceava and about 3,000 in other Moldavian burroughs: Iaşi, Botoşani, Dorohoi, Vaslui, Galaţi, and Hotin. During the reign of Ştefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great, 1457-1504), 10,000 more Armenians arrived in Moldavia, their total number reaching as high as 20,000. The Armenian carts left the Moldavian towns, taking cattle, grains, and cheese towards Europe and Asia, and brought back cloths, carpets, silk, embroideries, textiles, and spices. To quote again from Nicolae Iorga: ”In those times, there was no Moldavian fair, hence no trade, without Armenians”.
In Transylvania, a document signed by King Ladislau IV in 1281 speaks of Terra Armenorum and Monasterium Armenorum, both obviously belonging to the Armenians. A capital event in the existence of the Armenians in Transylvania is the foundation of Armenopolis, near Gherla, in 1700. Armenians had been living there since 1672: with the approval of Emperor Leopold I (1657-1705), they built up this Armenian town, paying the government in Vienna 25,000 guldens in exchange for the imperial permission. Armenopolis was built on a piece of land bought by Armenians, using the project of architect Alexanian. This is how 3,000 Armenians settled down in this town, one of the most important manufacture centres in Transylvania.
The second Armenian city was Elisabetopolis (nowadays Dumbrăveni), inhabited by an Armenian community since 1658. By imperial decree, in 1799, these two Armenian settlements became ”free royal cities” and their dwellers, converted to Catholicism by now, due to the action of Bishop Oxendius Vărzărescu, were given the following privileges:
Self-administration, their own courts of law, their own laws. By that time, there were other Armenian communities in Transylvania, e.g. in Frumoasa, Sibiu, Oradea, Bistriţa, Târgu-Secuiesc, or Sfântu Gheorghe, which had, beside the mayor, an Elders’ Council, chosen by the inhabitants. The Armenian communities had their own courts of law, that used the First Armenian Code, that of 13th century Măkhitar Gosh.
The Armenians contributed to the development of Transylvania’s international trade as well. As Emperor Francis Joseph stated: ”Through their commerce, the Armenians are very important to us”.
As mentioned above, it was only later that the Armenians settled in the reorganization of their guild. All Romanian provinces had ”Armenian companies” that settled the traders’ problems and the relationships between the Armenian communities and the Romanian administration.
The Armenians built churches in the most important cities. To mention the most important ones, still standing today: ”St. Mary’s” church in Botoşani (1350), ”St. Mary’s” church in Iaşi (1395), ”The Holy Cross” church in Suceava (1521), the Zamca Monastery in Suceava (1551), the ”Hagigadar” (Fulfilment of Wishes) Monastery in Suceava (1512). There are churches in Roman, Târgu-Ocna, Galaţi, Focşani, Constanţa, and Piteşti. Special mention should be made of the Armenian Cathedral ”Archangels Michael and Gabriel” in Bucharest, founded in 1915.
In Transylvania, the Armenian churches are Catholic: ”St. Solomon” (1724) and ”The Holy Trinity” (1776) in Gherla, as well as those in Frumoasa, Dumbrăveni, and Gheorgheni. The Armenian language is the other element defining the Armenians, beside the churches. From the Armenian spoken by the earliest immigrants, a dialect was born in Moldavia, in which vernacular Polish, Romanian, Turkish, and Tatar words entered, too. This dialect disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, the language spoken then being that of the tens of thousands of new immigrants who had taken refuge in Romania from Turkey, after the 1915 Genocide against the Armenians.
Armenian was taught in schools founded near the churches and monasteries, like those at Zamca (15th century) and Iaşi (1646). Public schools later appeared in Dumbrăveni (1685), Gherla (1700), Bucharest (1800), and Botoşani (1839).
The first Armenian syllabus, entitled Cheul cetirii literilor mesrobiene (”Key for the reading of Mesrobian lettering”) was printed in Iaşi, at the ”Albina” Printing House (1847), under the supervision of the Armenian scholar Gheorghe Asachi. Mention should also be made of the Dogma creştinească după credinţa Sfintei Biserici Armeneşti (”Christian Dogma According to the Holy Armenian Church”), printed by the same publishing house. From 1911 on, a collection of books for children entitled Masis was issued in Bucharest; in Frumoasa, under supervision of the clerical scholar Măgârdici Bodurian, an Armenian Encyclopedia was published in 1938.The Armenian historian and orientalist H.Dj. Siruni translated the most important poems by Mihai Eminescu, including the poet’s masterpiece Luceafărul (”The Evening Star”), into Armenian.
Unfortunately, the Armenian literature has no famous names that would cross the borders, but names such as Grigore Goilav, Grigore Buicliu, Zareh Bâlbul, or Grigor Covrighian count as most important for the culture of the Armenians living in Romania.
The Armenian press was very prolific. Over the last 100 years, over 30 newspapers and magazines of great importance for the Armenian community were issued. The first Armenian newspaper to be published in the Romanian journalistic milieu was the weekly Aror (”Plough”) issued briefly in Galaţi, in 1892. The first Armenian magazine written in Hungarian, entitled Armenia, was published in Gherla between 1887 and 1907, under the supervision of historian Kristoff Szongott. A long series of periodicals followed, in both Armenian and Romanian, before present-day Ararat and Nor Ghiank, edited by the Union of Armenians in Romania. The magazine Ararat is the new series of an interesting periodical (also in Romanian), first published under the supervision of editor-in-chief Vartan Mestugean. Nor Ghiank (”New Life”), a magazine first published in 1950, first on a weekly basis, then monthly, has been issued uninterruptedly ever since.
The list of Armenian personalities from Romania is very long: the Moldavian Princes Garabet Ioan Potcoavă (1592) and Ion Vodă the Armenian (nicknamed ”the Terrible”, 1572-1574); Petru Vartic, Chancellor of Prince Petru Rareş; Petru Armeanu, a diplomat under the rule of Prince Mihai Viteazu; Manuc-bey Mîrzaian, Prince of Moldo- Wallachia; Vasile Missir, Chairman of the House of Deputies and a member of Parliament from 1901 to 1908; economist and Minister Grigore Trancu-Iaşi; generals Iacob Zadig, Mihail Cerchez, and Hovhannes Czesz, commander of the revolutionary army in Transylvania in 1849; literary critic G. Ibrăileanu, music critic Emanoil Ciomac; art collector and critic Krikor H. Zambaccian; orientalist H.Dj. Siruni; doctor Ana Aslan, member of the Romanian Academy; philosopher Vasile Conta, composers Carol Mikuli, Matei Socor, Mihail Jora; painters Simon Hollosy, Abgar Baltazar, Nutzi Acontz, Hrandt Avakian; cartoonist Cik Damadian; sculptor Ioana Kasargian; philosopher Aram Frenkian; the brothers Jeny, Haig and Arşavir Acterian; parapsychologist Levon Mirahorian a.s.o.
Special mention should be made, among the personalities sprung from the Armenian Community in Romania, of the former Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Vasken I.
THE UNION OF ARMENIANS IN ROMANIA
The Union of Armenians in Romania was founded on January 25th, 1919, in order to assist the Armenians who had taken refuge in Romania from the Ottoman Empire, after the 1915 Genocide. Grigore Trancu-Iaşi was elected its first President. He was followed by Armenag Manissalian, who devoted his efforts to solving the Armenians’ problems, first and foremost by helping 10,000 Armenians obtain Romanian citizenship.
After 1990, the Armenian Community brought to life again the Union of Armenians in Romania, in order to preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Armenians living in this part of the world. The UAR is being represented in Parliament. Between 1990 and 1996, the President of the UAR, Varujan Vosganian, a Doctor in Economics, was elected as a Deputy of the Armenian Community in the Romanian House of Deputies. Following the 1996 elections, the UAR has had a double representation: Varujan Vosganian became a Senator from the Union of Right-Wing Forces and Chairman of the Senate Committee for Budget, Banks and Finances, while preserving his presidency of the Union of Armenians in Romania; Varujan Pambuccian, a reader in Mathematics at the Bucharest University, was elected Deputy of the UAR. In the 2000 elections, the UAR obtained 21,302 votes, three times more than in 1992. Thus, the UAR ranked 23 out of 69 among the political parties and organizations that took part in the elections and no. 4 in the hierarchy of the organizations of ethnic minorities in Romania. Starting with the 2000-2004 legislation, Varujan Pambuccian has also been appointed Chairman of the House of Deputies Committee for High Technology, that he helped found. In the 2004 elections, Varujan Pambuccian won a further deputation for the UAR, while Varujan Vosganian became a Senator for the National Liberal Party, on the lists of the ”Justice and Truth” Alliance.
On December 12th 2006 Vosganian was appointed Minister of Economy and Commerce in the government led by Călin Popescu Tariceanu, then after the government reorganization in April 2007, he takes over the portfolio of Minister of Economy and Finance (after the merger between the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and the Ministry of Finance).
From December 2012 to October 2013, Vosganian takes over, for the second time, the portfolio of Minister of Economy in the government led by Victor Ponta.
The Union of Armenians in Romania was continuously represented in the legislative body of the country since 1989. In the Temporary Council of National Unity (from 2nd February to 20th May 1990) UAR was represented by Varujan Vosganian, Sergiu Selian and Nşan Bogdan-Căuş.
At the last legislative elections in the fall of 2012, Varujan Pambuccian was again elected deputy of the Armenian Union in Romania and Mr. Vosganian was elected senator on the lists of the National Liberal Party.
Since 1992, the Deputy of the Union of Armenians in Romania has also held the presidency of the Group of National Minorities (other than Hungarian) in the House of Deputies.
At the sixth National Conference of UAR, held in Bucharest in April 2011, Varujan Vosganian was reelected president. The Steering Committee of UAR includes a number of personalities who have distinguished themselves in various community activities.
The Union of Armenians in Romania has branches in many cities of Romania – Bucharest, Constanţa, Piteşti, Iaşi, Galaţi, Suceava, Botoşani, Bacău, Focşani, Dumbrăveni, Cluj-Napoca, Gherla – and Sunday schools in Bucharest, Constanţa, Cluj-Napoca and Gherla.
Thanks to the work of the Union of Armenians in Romania and its two representatives in the Parliament, senator Varujan Vosganian and deputy Varujan Pambuccian, we can say that the Armenian community in Romania is enjoying a number of rights which gives us a very special position in the Armenian Diaspora. Thus, the Union of Armenians in Romania receives a financial support that is included in the annual budget act. Our periodicals and also the books published under the auspices of Ararat Publishing House are financed by the Romanian state. Our Sunday schools are included in the official school network and the Armenian language teachers are remunerated by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry that also takes care of the publication of the Armenian language manuals.
The Constitution and the electoral law state that the Union of Armenians in Romania has the right to participate in the local and parliamentary elections, managing to obtain every time a deputy mandate. The deputy from UAR is traditionally the president of the Group of National Minorities. On several occasions members of the UAR became prefects and sub-prefects in the counties inhabited by Armenians. The Romanian state provided considerable amounts of money destined for the restoration of our places of worship, as well as for a number of cultural and religious activities. The Armenian priests are remunerated by the state and the head of the Diocese has a diplomatic status.
Editor-in-chief of Ararat