Little Bangladesh in Yerevan

I am from Armenia, one of the oldest countries of the world. And our capital city is Yerevan, which is also my home town. Yerevan is very old and young at the same time, and has lots of places of interest. But I am not going to tell you about my city, I want to tell you a very curious thing. We have a little Bangladesh in Yerevan. You may ask what it means. Well, Bangladesh in Yerevan is one of the most popular and largest districts. Even more curiously, those who live in Bangladesh in Yerevan are called Bangladeshis just like the ones who live in the country named Bangladesh located in Indian subcontinent. They are Armenians, but they are Bangladeshis at the same time. Yes, it sounds strange, but it is true. And they are so proud of being Bangladeshi.

Yerevan is a city of tradition, and every district has its “laws” and traditions. Bangladesh is one of the leading districts. There are lots of big shops, factories, offices, and parks here. The people are very sociable, kind, hard-working and proud. The district Bangladesh is like a little country in a city, and though the 99 percent of the citizens there are Armenians, we still call them Bangladeshis. The residents never want to move to another district. I don’t know why we call one of the youngest and biggest districts of Yerevan, BANGLADESH. Perhaps the name sounded interesting and nice to us, or maybe we called it so because it is a suburb, a little faraway district of the city; faraway, as Bangladesh.

Anyway, from all the countries of the world, we chose exactly Bangladesh, and we love this part of the city and its name. And still, I wonder, is there any other nation, who has ever called a part of their city by a name of any country. If you ever come to Yerevan, you should visit Bangladesh in Yerevan, and see what a great place it is!

7 Replies to “Little Bangladesh in Yerevan”

  1. I am a Bangladeshi who took part in the liberation war of Bangladesh with the then occupational force. I had been a teen ager in 1971. My emotinal attachment to my country Bangladesh is many fold more because of direct presence on this land during that misserable point of time.
    Only today I came to know about the little Bangladesh in Yerevan, Armenia.
    Feeling like that those people in Yerevanian Bangladesh are my brothers/sisters. Wish that I be there with them someday.

  2. I’m a Bangladeshi but not an Armenian. I’m a citizen of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, a country liberated by the war of 1971 against the Pakistani occupational Army who surrendered to the joint forces of India and Bangladesh on 16 December 1971. Incidentally in 2004 in the month of September to December, I had been in an official training program in New Delhi where there were one male and one female participants from Armenia. At the day of my ‘Country Paper Presentation’, I had just returned to my seat by finishing answering to the volley of questions from the fellow participants from other countries, one young man of early thirties stood up of his seat, greeted me telling that there is a district named Bangladesh in the suburb of their Capital Yerevan in Armenia. I felt proud and told him that in the old part of our Capital Dhaka there also is an Urban Area called ‘Armanitola’ meaning the home of Armenians having Armenian Church, Semetry, School etc. I also informed the audience that from Mughal time a number of Armenian rich traders used to live in Dhaka and some other cities of Bangladesh and there had been a continuous flows two ways businesses between Armenia and Bangladesh since early Sixteenth Century. That long business and temporary migrational Communications might have a role and possibilities of being named an old district of Armenian Capital Yerevan as ‘Bangladesh’.

  3. One of the youngest and biggest districts of Yerevan named BANGLADESH. Long business and temporary migration, communications might have a role and possibilities for Yerevan, Armenia & Dhaka, Bangladesh. One day, I shall visit Armenian Bangladesh. I love BANGLADESH.

  4. It may be possible that the Armenians living in Bangladesh (West Bengal before 1947) moved back there and kept the name Bangladesh as a remembrance. But it is amazing to find this and I am already looking forward to a visit. Though, I am not sure if we have an Armenian Consulate here in Bangladesh now for the visa. If you know of the procedure to apply for Visa from Bangladesh (the country) for Armenia, please do let me know. I would also like to connect regarding other pieces of information.

  5. It is very pleasing to see that a citizen from Armenian capital Yerevan narrated nicely about a suburb called Bangladesh. I first came to know about this great suburb of Armenian capital Yerevan in 1985 (34 years ago). One of my Armenian classmates told me about this tiny Bangladesh in 1985 when we were both studying Aeronautical Engineering at Riga Civil Aviation Engineers Institute in Riga, the capital of then Soviet Socialist Republic of Latvia. His father mentioned to him that the suburb was named “Bangladesh” by the government of then Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1972 in the honour of the visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister, Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to Moscow, Russia. I was little skeptical and thought that he might be teasing me as my country Bangladesh was one of the poorest nations in the world in 1985. Now I realized that my Armenian classmate told me the fact. During my 10 years stay in the former Soviet Union (1984-1994) I was not able to visit this beautiful city of Yerevan despite having strong intention. However, I have a strong desire to visit Armenia and its little Bangladesh in near future. Armenia and Armenians are well known to Bangladesh as many Armenians settled in Bangladesh especially in Dhaka over several hundred years ago. The famous Armanitola and Armenian Church in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh are clearly signifying it. Long live the friendship and brotherhood between Bangladesh and Armenia.

  6. The respective district of Yerevan was build in late 60s-early 70s during the Soviet era in Armenia. In those days, people around the world, incl. the Armenians, were shocked by the Pakistani regime’s atrocities against the Bangladeshi people during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The newly-build district of Yerevan City – South-Western Residental Massive – was named after the country of Bangladesh in solidarity & empathy with the suffering Bangladeshi people.

    The name of district became very popular and is still widely used in the Yerevanis through officially it doesn’t exist anymore. After re-organization of Yerevan districts in 90s, the district became a part of the Shahumyan District and, later on, Malatia-Sebastia municipal district of Yerevan.

    That is the story of the name of Bangladesh district of Yerevan. A typical urban residential district of Yerevan, it had never residents of South-Asian origin and was never subject to any migration from the country of Bangladesh.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.