The Many Faces of the Spanish-Armenian Community

Datev Soulian is the president of the Asociacion Cultural Armenia de Barcelona (ACAB). “Every Saturday, the community members meet at the center, and we offer Armenian language, dance, and chess classes,” said Soulian during a phone conversation. Like Valencia, ACAB had events for Spaniards and Catalan people to introduce them to the Armenian culture and history.

Sarkis Hakobyan is an active member of the community. During a phone conversation, he said, “There are 35,000 Armenians living in Spain, of which 8,000 are in Catalonia, around Barcelona. We have a culturally active community.”

I visited the Armenian Dance Hayq Studio (Hayq Grupo de Danza Armenia) on March 23. Hayk Yeghiazaryan established the dance studio in the suburbs of Barcelona in 2017. The studio has students from 3 to 18 years old. They were rehearsing for their upcoming concert on April 26. “The parents bring their children to the dance classes with pleasure to keep our culture alive,” said Yeghiazaryan.

San Sebastian

In nearby San Sebastian, in the Basque Country, there are around 300 Armenians. In 2017, an Armenian khachkar was placed there next to the Good Shepherd Cathedral (Buen Pastor Catedral).

Kursaal Auditorium is a prestigious place in San Sebastian. Hovik Keuchkerian’s poster announcing his stand-up comedy show on April 18 was on display at the concert hall. Keuchkerian was born in Lebanon to an Armenian father and a Spanish mother.  He was a boxer who became a writer, actor, and comedian. He appeared in the well-received 2022 movie “Amerikatsi.”

Aralar Restaurant is in Irun, 30 minutes by train from San Sebastian. Ara Amirkhanyan, the owner and said, “We have a great team. My friends helped me remodel and open this restaurant.” He added, “I started working in a kitchen and decided to become a chef and open my place.”

Madrid

Like the other Spanish cities, the Armenian community in Madrid rents a church once a month for services. (There is only one Armenian church in Spain, the Saint Mary Armenian Church [Santa Iglesia Apostolica Armenia Santa Maria Madre de Dios] in Malaga, which opened in July 2022.) Father Ghevond Saghatelyan moved to Spain in September 2024 and travels by train to perform liturgy across the country. According to him, there are around 600 Armenians in Arnedo.

“The Armenian diaspora in Spain is new. They don’t have schools or churches. It’s challenging to encourage the children to speak Armenian,” he said.

Currently, there are no Armenian language classes in Madrid.

Saghatelyan helped the community there celebrate Easter. At the church, a choir consisting of six women and one man under the direction of Aghavni Grigoryan, performed. “We used to have a larger choir and we participated in concerts,” said Grigoryan. “Some of the members got married, others got busy with work, but we still come every month to create a touching service,” she added.

Incidentally, the movie “The Promise” was shot in Spain, Malta and Portugal. Many Armenians were hired as extras. Grigoryan proudly said, “My husband and I were extras in the movie, and I made sure that I played an Armenian woman’s role, not a Turkish one suggested by the casting team.”

According to the Armenian Embassy in Spain, on April 24, Armenian Ambassador Sos Avetisyan and his wife put flowers on the Armenian khachkar. In Barcelona and Valencia, Armenians put flowers at their local khachkars to honor the Genocide commemoration shown on their social media posts.