ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The Ethiopian-Armenian community is small but plays an outsized role in modern Ethiopian history. While Armenian diplomats and traders visited Ethiopia for centuries, a more permanent trading community established itself in Addis Ababa in the late 19th century before the Armenian Genocide, though flight from Ottoman repression soon swelled its ranks. Armenians felt comfortable in Ethiopia.
Like Armenia, Ethiopia is a civilizational state. Armenia became the first Christian kingdom in 301, but only just barely. Aksum — corresponding to modern day Ethiopia — was close behind, adopting Christianity just a few decades later. Like the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of Christianity’s most ancient. Both churches share similar theology and reject the A.D. 451 Council of Chalcedon.
Until the Communist Derg ousted Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, Ethiopians embraced Armenians. Armenians held trusted positions within Emperor Menelik II’s court between 1889 and 1913. The Armenians operated churches and schools which became the backbone to allow Ethio-Armenian culture to thrive. The Derg unleashed a rain of terror and Marxist confiscation of private property. The state nationalized Armenian schools, while the Communist regime allowed Orthodox worship, seizure of church property constrained both the Ethiopian and Armenian communities.
The Armenian General Benevolent Union has previously written on the Armenian community’s storied history in Addis Ababa and Harar, and the difficulties they have suffered alongside Ethiopian compatriots over the past half century. Numbers reflect those difficulties: Ethiopia’s Armenian population has declined from 1,600 people to perhaps 120, with some counts placing the community’s numbers even lower. St. George Armenian Apostolic Holy Church largely remains shuttered. Declining enrollment led the Armenian community to open the Kevorkoff Armenian National School to Ethiopians, though even this shuttered.
On May 28, 1991, the Derg finally fell as the fractious Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front took the capital. Ethiopians of all religions celebrated. Meles Zenawi took power and ruled the country until his 2012 death, after which Hailemariam Desalegn took over. Incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has ruled Ethiopia since 2018.
The problem many Armenians face is that while the Derg is gone, the state’s mindset of imminent domain and central planning remains. While Ethiopians despise the Derg, subsequent governments have retained much of the stolen Armenian property. While title disputes slow restitution in other cases, the Armenian titles are clear cut. The constitution also allows the government to seize and destroy property for the public good. The current Ethiopian government appears obsessed with transforming Addis Ababa into an African Dubai. In the name of modernizing the capital, Abiy has launched a corridor project that has seen the destruction of much of old Addis Ababa, including Armen Sefer, the old Armenian neighborhood, to make way for more modern apartments and towers.
