Gordo Expresses Solidarity with Armenian-American Community

Councilmember and mayoral candidate Victor Gordo on Monday released a statement expressing his support for the Armenian-American community after Azerbaijan resumed missile attacks on Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh region late last month.

“For many years, the city of Pasadena has enjoyed a strong bond with Armenia and our sister city of Vanadzor,” Gordo said in a prepared statement. “I have always stood in solidarity with the Armenian-American community of Pasadena. I rise once again to unequivocally, and without question, condemn Azerbaijan’s attacks against the Armenian people.”

Last week, Pasadena Now reported reaction from the local Armenian-American community after the country mobilized its military following clashes with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh serves as an important corridor for European energy supplies via a pipeline that runs through Turkey, according to Reuters News Service.

Pasadena has a large Armenian-American community. Nearby Glendale, with a population of more than 200,000 people, has the world’s largest population of Armenians outside of Armenia. According to the 2000 Census, 53,840 people, or 27 percent of the population in Glendale, identified themselves as Armenian.

Other than Glendale and Los Angeles proper, the 2000 Census shows significant Armenian populations residing in Burbank (8,312), Pasadena (4,400), Montebello (2,736), Altadena (2,134), La Crescenta-Montrose (1,382). The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument, the oldest and largest Armenian Genocide memorial in the United States, is located in Montebello.

According to data from the same Census, the highest number of Azerbaijanis who immigrated to the U.S. from Azerbaijan, 12,540, settled primarily in New York, with 4,357 people living in New Jersey, 3,178 in Texas, 2,743 in California, and 1,559 Minnesota.

Also according to the 2000 Census, there were 385,488 Americans of Armenian ancestry at that time. The 2017 American Community Survey estimate found 485,970 Americans with full or partial Armenian ancestry.

The two sides have long clashed over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian territory that is part of Azerbaijan. The two countries fought a six-year war over the region until a ceasefire was declared in 1994.

The war began when ethnic-Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh fought against control by mostly Muslim Azerbaijanis. The conflict led to thousands of deaths. Despite mediation from Western powers and Russia, the two countries have never reached a full peace settlement.

“Right now Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, is bombing innocent civilians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh). Every Armenian-American in our community has a loved one whose life is now on the line. Their very existence as a nation is in jeopardy,” Gordo said. “This is not a time to be silent.

I call on my colleagues on the Pasadena City Council to join me in calling for peace for Armenia.”