Syria's communities and civilizations – history, sites and heritage
Armenians
Self-designation: Հայեր Hayer
الأرمن
Ethnic and linguistic communities
Syria's Armenian community, centred in Aleppo, largely descends from survivors of the 1915 genocide who reached Syria as refugees. It kept its own churches, schools and press, but has shrunk sharply since 2011.
Most Syrian Armenians descend from survivors of the Ottoman deportations and massacres of 1915, for which the Syrian desert town of Deir ez-Zor was one of the destinations. Further refugees arrived from Turkey between 1925 and 1945. Kessab in the Latakia mountains is an old Armenian village whose inhabitants were deported in 1915 and largely returned by 1918.
Sources and details
Most Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church; there are also Armenian Catholic and Armenian Evangelical congregations. They speak Armenian, an Indo-European language with its own alphabet, alongside Arabic. The 1987 country study described them as the largest unassimilated group in Syria, with their own schools, press and associations, and strongly represented in trade, crafts and the professions, especially in Aleppo; in Damascus they are associated with the Hay al-Arman district.
Estimates of the pre-2011 community range from about 80,000 (Avagyan 2025; Vostok 2024) to about 100,000 (SyriacPress 2025); post-war estimates range from about 10,000 to about 30,000 remaining (same sources; estimates). Armenian quarters, churches and schools in Aleppo, Damascus and Kessab were damaged; Kessab was overrun in March 2014 and retaken in June 2014, and the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Deir ez-Zor was destroyed by ISIS in 2014. Many emigrated to Lebanon, Armenia (about 22,000 between 2011 and 2018), North America and Europe.
Sites connected with this community 15
- St Joseph Church, QamishliHasakah · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Catholic church of St Joseph in Qamishli, reflecting the Jazira's Armenian community.
- Al-JdaydeAleppo · Historic architecture
Historic Christian quarter of Aleppo where the Armenian Forty Martyrs Cathedral and other Armenian churches stand.
- Armenian Church of the Holy Mother of God (al-Jdayde, Aleppo)Aleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Apostolic Church of the Holy Mother of God in al-Jdayde, Aleppo.
- Armenian Evangelical Bethel ChurchAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Evangelical church in Aleppo.
- Armenian Evangelical Emmanuel ChurchAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Evangelical church in Aleppo.
- Armenian Evangelical Martyrs' ChurchAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Evangelical church in Aleppo.
- Forty Martyrs CathedralAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Apostolic cathedral of Aleppo in al-Jdayde.
- Holy Cross ChurchAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Catholic church in Aleppo.
- Holy Trinity Church, AleppoAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Catholic church in Aleppo.
- Surp Hagop ChurchAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Apostolic church in Aleppo.
- Surp Kevork Church of AleppoAleppo · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Apostolic church in Aleppo.
- Surp Sarkis Church, DamascusDamascus · Archaeological sites
Armenian Apostolic church of Damascus.
- Armenian Genocide Memorial Church, Deir ez-ZorDeir ez-Zor, Deir ez-Zor · Churches & monasteries
Memorial church to victims of the 1915 deportations to Deir ez-Zor, destroyed by ISIS in 2014.
- KessabLatakia · Nature
Armenian village in the Latakia mountains with Apostolic, Catholic and Evangelical churches; deported in 1915, overrun in 2014.
- Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs, RaqqaRaqqa, Raqqa · Churches & monasteries
Armenian Catholic church in Raqqa, damaged during the IS occupation.
Further sites (not yet in the atlas)
- Surp Stepanos Church, Karadouran (Kessab area)Latakia
Described as possibly the oldest standing Armenian church in Syria; reopened in July 2014 after the Kessab attack.
- Hay al-Arman (Armenian quarter), Damascus حي الأرمنDamascus
Armenian district of Damascus named by MRG.
Sources (7)
- Minority Rights Group International – Syria (country page)
- Library of Congress, Syria: A Country Study (1987) – Armenians 1987
- Avagyan, Knarik – The crisis of the Armenian community of Syria and the repatriation (2012–2018), History and Culture (Yerevan State University) SI-1: 133–142 May 29, 2025
- The war in Syria as the cause of the crisis of the Armenian community (2010s), Vostok (Oriens) no. 4 (Institute of History, NAS Armenia; abstract) August 25, 2024
- SyriacPress – Kessab: Syria's enduring Armenian enclave on the edge of conflict August 29, 2025
- Hürriyet Daily News – ISIL destroys landmark Armenian church in Syria September 25, 2014
- Minority Rights Group International – Syria: Christians, Armenians and Assyrians updated 2018-03
These categories describe history, language and faith – not exclusive identities. Many Syrians belong to several, and some names refer to civilizations of the past.