Armenia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It had faced enormous problems by the 1988 Spitak earthquake and, soon after its nationhood, got involved in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. This constituted a new challenge for the Armenians in Greece (just like for the entire Armenian Diaspora). They tried to be of help to their country when the devastating earthquake struck the northern part of their country, then with the conflict for Nagorno-Karabakh, followed by major economic and living problems such as hunger and energy thirst caused by the embargo imposed on Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan. The provisional also accommodation and the caring of some hundreds of refugees that resorted to Greece were covered up to one degree by the Armenian community.