Armenians

   The Armenians are an ancient Indo-European-speaking people who lived in eastern Anatolia until World War I and still inhabit the Caucasus Mountains. In 301 they became the first people to adopt Christianity as the official state religion. A Ca-tholicos (Pope) heads the Armenian Gregorian (Apostolic) Church in Armenia, and a rival Cilician (Sis) Catholicos sits in Lebanon. Their historic homeland partially overlaps with the Kurds'. Over the years much bloodshed has occurred between the historically nomadic Kurds and sedentary Armenians. During World War I the Armenians suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks what many would consider genocide. Kurdish brigands played a notorious role in these events.

   Since both saw Turkey as an enemy after World War I, however, some proposed an alliance between the Armenians and Kurds against Turkey. A small amount of cooperation apparently has occurred. From 1973 to 1984, some 30 Turkish diplomats or members of their immediate families were assassinated by Armenian terrorists. In 1991, Armenia became an independent state upon the breakup of the Soviet Union. War between the new states of Armenia and Azerbaijan resulted in the creation of another ethnically de facto Armenian state known as Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) on some 15 percent of Azeri territory. More than 3,000,000 Armenians currently live in

   Armenia, while a diaspora of another 3,000,000 live in various successor Soviet states, the United States, France, and numerous other places. Great animosity continues to exist between many Armenians and Turkey over Armenian accusations of genocide during World War I and Turkish denials, as well as more recent events largely revolving around the issue of Nagorno Karabakh.