Figure 1.--Zilia was the name of the Armenian Youth Boy/Girl Scouts Organization in 1920`s in Bulgaria. This photo shows its members and chiefs.

Armenia was an ancient kingdom conquered by a series of empires. In the modern era Armenians lived largely in the Russian and Ottomon Empires. The large Armenian population was masacred by the Turks during world war I in a grusome Genocide designed as a massive ethnic cleansing operation. Small numbers of Armenians managed to escape to neighboring Middle Eastern countries and the Balkans in Europe. Armenians in those countries formed separate Boy Scout units. The Armenians Boy and Girl Scouts in Bulgaria were called Zilia. Both boys and girls were members. We know nothing about the group at this time. There were Armenians in the Balkans before the Turkish Holocast, but it is likely that many of the Zilia members were refugees from the Turkish genocide.