Zareh Sinanyan

Sinanyan ran for one of three Glendale City Council seats in the April 2013 election and finished third out of twelve candidates.[11] He is the first Armenian-born politician to hold a seat on the Glendale City Council.[12] At his second City Council meeting, he publicly apologized for "racial and homophobic slurs" he had posted online for several years before the election.[13][14]

In July 2013 Sinanyan supported the establishment of a memorial to Korean comfort women in the Glendale Central Park, over the objections of the government of Japan and dozens of Japanese-Americans.[15] Sinanyan spoke at the unveiling of the memorial in late July, citing his own background as the grandson of an Armenian Genocide 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".[16]

In April 2014, Sinanyan was appointed mayor of Glendale, California replacing former mayor Dave Weaver.[17]

In November 2014 Sinanyan and Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti were among the California politicians invited to attend the opening of a BBCN representative office in Seoul, South Korea.[18] Sinanyan also met with Lee Koon-hyon, Secretary General of the Saenuri Party.[19]

In 2013, Zareh Sinanyan made several racist and homophobic remarks online, using slurs to describe gays, threatening rape, and insulting Mexican-Americans, Muslims and women.[20][21]