 Bulgarian authorities honored Andranik and Nzhdeh with the Order of Bravery.After the events surrounding the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire (1915–1917) 22,000 additional Armenians sought refuge in Bulgaria during the government of Aleksandar Stamboliyski in 1922.During the Communist rule of Bulgaria (1945–1989) and the time of the Soviet Union, most of the Armenians returned to their homeland, then the Armenian SSR, but many chose to stay in Bulgaria or emigrate to other countries such as the United States.