The estimated Armenian population in Romania is 2023, which represents 0.01% of the country`s population. Most of them live in Bucharest and in Constanta (about 1400), and the rest live in Transylvania and are considered Catholic Armenians.
Akkadian, Asyrian, and Elamite inscriptions mention in the antiquity the name of Armenia in many variants: Arme, Urme, Armani, Armina. A national Armenian state is founded very early, in 301 A.D., being the first Christian state in the world.
In the fifth century, the Armenian monk Mesrop Mastoth creates an Armenian alphabet (between 392 and 406), and soon a Armenian culture started developing very quickly. The defeat of the Ottoman empire in the First World War and the fall of the Tzarist Empire created the conditions for the creation -on May 28 1918- of an independent Armenian state. The state will only last for two years, until -after the Red Army`s intervention- Armenia is declared a Soviet republic.
On September 21, 1991, the Armenian people voted for the detachment from USSR and the creation of an independent Armenia .
In 1990, in Bucharest , the Union of Armenians from Romania (U.A.R.) is founded, a political and cultural organization, whose first president was Varujan Vosganian.
The UAR owns and manages a publishing house and a print shop that have published over forty books written by or about Armenians, and soon will print the first Armenian language , history, and religion textbooks. Two periodicals, <Nor Ghiank> and <Ararat>, have been printed for the past ten years, without interruption.
After a twenty years of interruption, the Armenian school has reopened its gates, enrolling 120 children every year. The UAR organizes many cultural events, school and community celebrations.
The UAR has had a significant role in including cultural and other activities of national minorities in the state budget in 1992. In recognition of this contribution, the armenian representative is the leader of the parliamentary group of the national minorities, thus representing approximately one million Romanian citizens.