During the 2001 census 294 people reported Armenian as their mother tongue, 620 people reported their ethnicity as Armenian and 1,136 people had ties to the Armenian ethnicity, culture and language.
Hungarian-Armenian relations go back more than 1000 years. A charter from the 13th century testifies the existence of the Armenian Village Terra Armenium. Those who arrived later settled down mostly in Transylvania. Most of them endeavoured in manufacture and commerce. In the 18th century their assimilation set in motion, and by the end of the 19th century more than 50 Armenian families received or purchased noble rank. In the 1848-49 War of Independence more than seventy officers and two hundred soldiers of Armenian origin participated in the Hungarian front, among them General Ernő Kiss and General Vilmos Lázár martyrs of Arad. After the 1915 genocide perpetrated against the Armenian, many Armenian refugees fled to Hungary.
In April 1920 the Association of Hungarian Armenians was founded under the name of Maszisz (Ararat) and the first Armenian-language journal Nor Tar (New Century) was published. In 1924 the Armenian Catholic Church of Hungary was established and the Hungarian-Armenian Trading Company was created, aimed at boosting commercial relations. In 1952 the Association of Hungarian Armenians was dissolved; the political situation in Hungary forbade primary relationships with the diaspora due to the nationality politics of the Soviet Union. Relations between twin cities and counties could only exist within the framework of private liaisons and civil initiatives.
In 1987, after the association law came into existence, the Hungarian-Armenian circle of friends, Arménia, was created. By 1992 the circle transformed itself into the Arménia Cultural Association of the People, an organization aimed at preserving Armenian educational, religious and cultural identity. In 1997 the Transylvanian Armenian Roots Cultural Association was created to hold together the Transylvanian Armenian community, to preserve their identity, and cultural and religious traditions. The members of the association declare themselves to be Hungarian-Armenians with their mother tongue being Hungarian, but being proud of having Armenian roots. The profiles and traditions of the two associations differ as their roots, modes of preserving their identity and relations to the „homeland” are divergent.
The LXXVII Act of 1993 on the rights of nationalities and ethnic minorities recognised Armenians as official nationality, which authorized them to create minority self-governments. In February 1995 the 17-member National Armenian Self-Government was established, operating continuously ever since.
On 17 June 2001 the National Armenian Self-Government erected a stone cross on the Danube Promenade in remembrance of the 1700th anniversary of the conversion of Armenians to Christianity, and the 85th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
After the elections in 2006, 31 local Armenian self-governments were operating, a number which increased to 39 after the minority self-government elections in 2010. This meant an increase of 25.8 percent. Last year (2011) 183 candidates of 7 minority organization could be voted on.
Based on the election results the Armenian community formed a mid-level self-government in the capital, represented by 7 people. On 26 January 2011 the National Armenian Self-Government was established, represented by 21 members.
The National Armenian Self-Government founded in 2007 its first autonomous institute in Budapest, the Armenian Centre of Culture, Information and Documentation. It is responsible for monitoring the cultural developments of the Armenian minority, uniting the activities of Armenian civil organizations, and the minority self-governments’ cultural activities.
The Armenians do not have their own educational network. The Armenian language education is realized in the framework of Sunday schools in Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged, Győr and Szekesfehervar. The Eötvös Lóránd University offers ongoing Armenian language and culture training.
90 percent of the Armenians living in Hungary belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church. Based on the data of the latest census the Armenian Church counts 766 members in Hungary. The Armenian Catholic Church functions as only Armenian Catholic ministry. The Armenian Apostolic Church commenced its operations in 2003.
The Foundation for Armenian Culture issues the cultural, bilingual public periodical Arménia. The Transylvanian Armenian Roots Cultural Association publishes the cultural periodical Sheets in Hungarian, with the contribution of the Armenian self-governments and the National Armenian Self-Government. The Diaspora 21 journal is to be issued commencing in 2012.
The Hungarian Radio broadcasts a 30 minutes long Armenian radio programme weekly. The Shows of the public radio MR4 are broadcasted 24 hours a day via satellite, but are also available for download on the homepage of MR4. The Hungarian Television broadcasts within the framework of the nationality show Rondó a 6-8 minutes monthly programme in Armenian language. Furthermore, twice a year a 26-minutes long Armenian-thematic program is produced.
The National Armenian Self-Government maintains good relations with the homeland and the rest of the Armenians living in diasporas. In the framework of a cooperation agreement with the Armenian Ministry of Culture, cultural groups from Armenia participate in festive events of the Hungarian Armenian community on a frequent basis.
The Hungarian Armenian organizations aim to explore, foster, deepen and extend the cultural and social relations between the Hungarian and Armenian people, and to promote the mutual knowledge of and recognition between one another. It also has the function to broaden the private and public relations with the Armenian diaspora and Armenia.