There are around 3,000 people of Armenian descent living in Romania. Modern relationships between Armenia and Romania are rooted in part in the modern history of the Armenian people. After the Armenian genocide of 1915, Romania was the first state to officially provide shelter and refugee camps to refugees from the area. In October 2007, the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, received a delegation headed by the Romanian Minister of National Defense, Teodor Meleșcanu, and noted that the Armenian-Romanian friendship was deeply rooted in history. He also noted that it was not by accident that Romania was the first country to formally recognize the independence of Armenia from the USSR.[1]
