Zareh John Sinanyan ( hy, Զարեհ Սինանյան, born December 4, 1973) is an Armenian-American politician currently serving as the High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs of Armenia. He is a former member of the city council of
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and twice served as the city's mayor. As a city councilman, he held posts in various commissions, including Parks, Recreation and Community Service, and the Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee.
On June 14, 2019 Sinanyan was appointed High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs of Armenia (a position created to replace the abolished post of Minister of Diaspora) by Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinyan
Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018.
A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1 ...
.
Early life and education
Zareh Sinanyan was born in
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
,
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, in 1973 and attended the local school No. 172.
His father was born in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and settled in Armenia in 1946.
His mother is from
Talin, Armenia
Talin ( hy, Թալին), is a town and urban municipal community in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. As of the 2011 census, Talin had a population of 5,310. According to the 2016 official estimate, Talin currently has a population of around ...
.
He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1988 and settled in
Burbank, California.
Sinanyan attended the
John Muir Middle School in Burbank and went on to graduate from
Burbank High School.
In 1997 he earned a bachelor's degrees in political science and history in 1997 at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
He then attended law school at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, where he obtained his
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
.
While in law school, Sinanyan worked for the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
and interned for Justice Earl Johnson of the California Court of Appeal.
After his graduation from law school, he entered civil litigation service and ran his own law office.
Political career
Sinanyan was appointed to the Parks, Recreation and Community Service's Commission of Glendale in 2006 and held this position until 2008.
He served as chairman to the Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee from 2009 to 2011.
He was also a commissioner to the Community Development Block Grant Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2013.
City Councilman
Sinanyan ran for one of three Glendale City Council seats in the April 2013 election and finished third out of twelve candidates. He is the first Armenian-born politician to hold a seat on the Glendale City Council. At his second City Council meeting, he publicly apologized for "racial and homophobic slurs" he had posted online for several years before the election.
In July 2013 Sinanyan supported the establishment of a memorial to Korean
comfort women
Comfort women or comfort girls were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term "comfort women" is a translation of the Japanese '' ia ...
in the Glendale Central Park, over the objections of the government of Japan and dozens of Japanese-Americans. Sinanyan spoke at the unveiling of the memorial in late July, citing his own background as the grandson of an
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
survivor and asserting: "The best way to resolve conflicts... the best way to heal wounds... is to acknowledge them. My people, my grandfather, were subjected to a horrible, horrible crime... To this day, because no apology has come, no proper acknowledgement has come... the wound is deep, it's festering, and there can be no moving forward without it."
Mayor
In April 2014, Sinanyan was appointed mayor of Glendale, California replacing former mayor Dave Weaver.
In November 2014 Sinanyan and Los Angeles mayor
Eric Garcetti
Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...
were among the California politicians invited to attend the opening of a
BBCN representative office in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea. Sinanyan also met with
Lee Koon-hyon, Secretary General of the
Saenuri Party
The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Han ...
.
Controversy
In 2013, Zareh Sinanyan made several racist and homophobic remarks online, using slurs to describe gays, threatening rape, and insulting
Mexican-Americans
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican ...
, Muslims and women.
Personal life
Sinanyan and his wife Lori have four children.
Endorsements
Sinanyan
endorsed Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
for the
Democratic Party nomination in the
2016 presidential election.
[
*https://web.facebook.com/zareh.sinanyan/posts/10201414527281930
*https://web.facebook.com/zareh.sinanyan/posts/10201437389213464
*https://web.facebook.com/zareh.sinanyan/posts/10201393131987061]
See also
*
History of the Armenian Americans in Los Angeles
References
External links
Archived City Council pageArchived Mayoral Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinanyan, Zareh
1973 births
Politicians from Yerevan
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
USC Gould School of Law alumni
American people of Armenian descent
California city council members
Mayors of Glendale, California
Living people
Armenian lawyers
California lawyers
21st-century American politicians
Diaspora ministers of Armenia
Ethnic Armenian politicians