| Revision as of 22:57, 3 August 2008 editEupator (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers9,166 edits no consensus, Omer- see WP:OWN← Previous edit | Revision as of 08:30, 4 August 2008 edit undoJingiby (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, New page reviewers62,125 editsm →See alsoNext edit → | ||
| Line 84: | Line 84: | ||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | *] | ||
Revision as of 08:30, 4 August 2008
Ethnic group| File:Hamsheni woman in traditional dress.jpg Bash Hemshinli woman in traditional dress. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Turkey, Russia, Georgia (Abkhazia), Armenia, and Central Asia | |
| Languages | |
| Armenian (Homshetsi dialect) and Turkish (Hemşince dialect) | |
| Religion | |
| Armenian Apostolic Christianity and Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Armenians |
The Hemshin (Turkish: Hemşinli, also known as Hamshenis, Khemshils, Armenian: Համշենի; Russian: Амшенцы; Laz: Sumexi (სუმეხი)) are an ethnic group who originated in the eastern Black Sea region of what is now Turkey. It is generally accepted that the Hemshin were Armenian in origin, and were originally Christian and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but over the centuries they have evolved into a distinctive ethnic group in their own right.
They are currently divided into three separate communities that are almost oblivious to one another's existence. These divisions were the result of population movements initiated by resistance to forced conversion to Islam and, latterly, for economic reasons.
The western Hemshinli or Bash Hemshinli (Turkish: Baş Hemşinli) are Turkish-speaking Sunni Muslims who mostly live in the counties (ilçe) of Çamlihemşin and Hemşin in Turkey's Rize Province. The eastern Hemshinli or Hopa Hemshinli are Armenian-speaking Sunni Muslims and mostly live in the Hopa and Borçka counties of Turkey's Artvin Province. The Hamshenis are Armenian-speaking Christians who live in Abkhazia and in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. There are also some Muslim Hemshinli living in Georgia and Krasnodar and some Hemshinli elements amongst the "Meskhetian Turks".
Issues involving the ethnic origin and self-identity of the Hemshinli can be subject to controversy in Turkey.
Origins
According to Ghevont (Leontius the Priest), the Armenian princes Hamam and Shapuh Amatuni, who lost their domains in Artaz to the Arabs, moved to the Byzantine Empire in the 8th century with 12,000 of their people. They settled in the town of Tambut in the mountains and it was eventually renamed Hamamashen, which evolved to Hamshen (Համշէն, the Armenian and local name for it) or Hemşin (today the official Turkish name). This group of Armenians prospered in the Pontic Mountains, and, virtually cut off from other Armenian populations, developed its unique dialect of Armenian.
The majority of these Armenians were Christians, belonging to the diocese of Khachkar of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In 1461, the Hamshen area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. As a result, in the 16th century and on a larger scale in the 18th century, a significant number of them were forced to convert to Islam. Still, these Hamshenis retained both their dialect and their culture. The Islamic Hamshenis were allowed to remain in situ, and have been left virtually undisturbed since that time.
Those who refused to convert either fled or remained where they were such as those of Elevit (Eliovit). Most fled to farther western parts of Pontus like Trabzon, Giresun, Ordu, Samsun, and also in 19th and early 20th centuries, to found settlements in western regions of Turkey like Adapazarı, Bolu and in the eastern Black Sea coasts of the Russian Empire. Due to events such as the Armenian Genocide and the Turkish War of Independence, most of the surviving Christian Hamshenis of Turkey emigrated to the Hamsheni settlements under Russian sovereignty. A group of Adapazarı Hamshenis have reportedly taken refuge in Armenia.
Groups
Hamshenis themselves are divided into three main groups as designated by Professor of Linguistics Bert Vaux at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:
Western Hamshenis
Western Hamshenis (Hemshinli) of Baş Hemşin primarily reside in the mountainous villages in the Rize Province. They are Sunni Muslim by faith and abundantly present in the districts of Hemşin and Çamlıhemşin (which literally means "piney Hamshen", originally known as Vija) but also in the mountainous interior of Pazar (Atina), Çayeli (Mapavri), Ardeşen (Artaşen), Fındıklı (Viçe) districts. Smaller communities of these Hamshenis can be found in farther western regions of Turkey such as Istanbul, Sakarya, Düzce, Kocaeli, and Zonguldak. The Western group speaks a peculiar dialect of Turkish called Hemşince, adopted under Turkic rule. They celebrate the Armenian festival Vartavar.
Eastern Hamshenis
Eastern Hamshenis (Hamshetsi) of Hopa Hemşin are also Sunni Muslims and live in the Artvin Province. They form the majority of the population in and around the town of Kemalpaşa (Makriali) in Hopa and also in Muratlı (Berlivan) village in Borçka. This group also once comprised a sizeable population in the Adjara area of Georgia, but were deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A considerable number of these deportees have moved to Krasnodar Krai since 1989, along with the Meskhetians. The Eastern group speaks an archaic dialect of Armenian, known to its speakers as Homshetsi or Homshetsi lizu ("the Hamshen language"). These Hamshenis are said to be the last to convert to Islam en masse (probably in the late 19th century).
Northern Hamshenis
Northern Hamshenis (Hamshentsi) are the descendants of non-Islamicized Hamshenis who fled the Hamshen area following conversions and settled in other regions like Samsun (Kurşunlu in Çarşamba), Ordu, Giresun, and Trabzon (Karadere valley in Araklı to the east of Trabzon). Most of these Hamshenis currently live in Abkhazia and in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia, in particular, the Sochi area, and Adygeya. Although they are Christian and belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, they still keep their Hamsheni identity and culture. Like the Eastern group, they too speak the Homshetsi dialect (though they refer to it as Häyren meaning Armenian). Prof. Bert Vaux refers to this dialect as Homshetsma.
Culture
Hamshenis are well-known for the clever jokes, riddles, and stories that they tell. Some of the anecdotes that the Muslim Hamshenis tell are actually based on older Armenian ones. They accompany dances with their own brand of music using the tulum (the Pontic bagpipe) (for the Western group), the şimşir kaval (flute made of buxus) (for the Eastern group) or the Hamshna-Zurna (Hamsheni zurna) (for the Northern group). The traditional occupations of the Turkish Hamshenis are cultivating tea and maize, breeding livestock, and beekeeping. The Northern Hamshenis of Russia and Georgia, meanwhile, are primarily known as citrus, corn, tobacco and tea growers as well as fishermen. Some Hamshenis (both Muslim and Christian) are also active in economic life as expert bakers, restauranteurs, and transporters, and those in Turkey developed a keen and nationally-renowned expertise in the production of crafted handguns.
Population
As mentioned above, Hamshenis primarily reside in Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Central Asia. Estimates of there numbers worldwide run from several thousand to several hundred thousand. According to Sergei Vardanyan, a historian and journalist who is vice-chairman of the "Hamshen" charitable-compatriotic organization in Yerevan, there is no way to know exactly how many Hamshenis there are. Vardanyan's research indicates that "in some Hamshen families, people themselves did not know whether they are Hamshentsi or not." In addition, he writes, "both Christian and Islamized Hamshentsi now have a common problem - preserving their national identity, since they know their history only at the level of folklore."
Turkey
Vardanyan's Hamsheni research indicates that at least some 20-30,000 Hamshentsi Muslims who speak Armenian live in Turkey as well as some 100-200,000 Hamshentsi Turkish speakers. Most of the 3,000 Islamized Hamshen Armenians that he encountered were blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Some said that "they did not know their nationality." They were only identified as either "Hemshil" or "Turkish" on their passports. He noted that "while Hamshentsi in the former Soviet republics states know something of the history of Armenia, in Turkey they have no access to this" and that "that each generation of Islamized Armenians knows less and less about their origins." However, according to some sources, while older generations of Turkish Hamshenis see the reference "Ermeni" (often used by their Laz neighbours) as an insult, some among younger generations, particularly those with strong leftist leanings tend to identify themselves as Armenians.
The first motion picture in Homshetsi, Momi (Grandma) was shot in 2000. Hamsheni singer Gökhan Birben (from the Western group) and Laz singer Kâzım Koyuncu had also sung in Homshetsi. In 2005, the first music album exclusively of anonymous Hamshen folk songs and sung mostly in Homshetsi, Vova - Hamşetsu Ğhağ was released.
Mesut Yılmaz, a former Prime Minister of Turkey, was born in Istanbul to a family with partial Hamsheni (Western group) origins. Ahmet Tevfik İleri (who was born in Yaltkaya (Gomno) village of Hemşin), a Deputy Prime Minister and before that, a Minister of Education in Turkey within successive Adnan Menderes governments between 1950-1960, as well as Damat Mehmet Ali Pasha, the Ottoman Grand Vizier on the eve of the Crimean War in 1853 were also Hamshenis. The community issued other important names in Turkish history and society such as Murat Karayalçın, current leader of SHP and a former Deputy Prime Minister and mayor of Ankara who is from Şenyuva (Çinçiva) village of Çamlıhemşin.
Presently, a major issue in Turkey regarding the Hamshenis is tourism. The ecology of the area and local culture are being threatened by the increase of tourists who are drawn to the beauty of areas such as Rize, Hopa, and Ayder. Many Hamshenis are angry with this sudden boost of tourism. "Ayder's degeneration began after it was linked by road to the nearby town of Çamlıhemşin," said Selçuk Güney, a local Hamsheni activist. One of his aims is to ensure that his birthplace, the neighbouring Fırtına (Furtuna) valley, avoids a similar fate.
There are two ongoing projects involving Turkish NGOs and EuropeAid, European Commission's external aid instrument, that touch their issues. The more recently (2007) launched "Ecodialogue Project" ("Ekodiyalog", web site pending) has set itself as goal raising environment consciousness of the region's enterprises and improving the poor levels and quality of the information relayed by local guides , many of whom are self-styled and unlicensed The other project, started 2004 and involving also the World Conservation Union, aims to raise the profile and awareness of the grouse, particularly black grouse, who visit the region, also with focus on enterprises and guides .
Russia and the former Soviet Union
Interest in Hamshen heritage is rising among Christian Hamshenis in the former Soviet Union. In 2006, the first music album in Homshetsma by the Ensemble Caravan was released in Krasnodar. Hamshen Scientific, Information and Cultural Centre began to work on exclusive projects in order to recover the cultural heritage of the Hamshenis living in the region. The Armenian newspaper published in Sukhumi carries the name Hamshen.
During the Mikhail Gorbachev period of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the Hamshenis of Kazakhstan began petitioning for the government to move them to the Armenian SSR. Sergei Vardanyan supported the move and made an effort to resettle one of the derelict villages in Lori with 150 families of Christian Hamsheis from Krasnodar and Abkhazia and Islamized Hamshenis from Central Asia. However, all this was denied by Moscow because of fears that the Muslim Hamshenis might spark ethnic conflicts with their Christian Armenian brothers.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, most Hamshenis lived relatively undisturbed. However, those in the Abkhazia region of Georgia had trouble coping with day-to-day life during the Georgian Civil War.
Since 2000, several hundred of the Muslim Hamshenis in Russia who have settled from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to Krasnodar Krai (about 1000 total) have repeatedly attempted to formally receive registration from the local authorities. This is similar and related to the problem of the Meskhetians. These actions have been made difficult by the attitude of the Krasnodar officials. In defiance of the authorities an organisation of their co-ethnics in Armenia have appealed to the Russian ambassador in Yerevan to get Moscow to intervene in this case and overrule the regional officials who seem intent on preventing Hamshenis from gaining a status of permanent residency.
In the 2002 Russian Federation census, 1,542 people identified themselves as Hamshenis, two-thirds of whom were living in Krasnodar Krai.
Recognition by the Armenian mainstream
Interest in the Hamshenis, whether Christian or Muslim, is also rising among the Armenians of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. Sergei Vardanyan encourages efforts to "create a tie between Hamshen Armenians and their roots." He serves as the editor in chief of Hamshen Voice, a monthly newspaper published in Yerevan with support from private donations and circulated in Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Lebanon, and the United States. "I feel responsibility towards the Hamshentsi simply because I am Armenian," Vardanyan said "With the help of the law on dual citizenship or any other law, Armenia should encourage a national gathering and bring together Armenians around the world to preserve it as a nation with good prospects for the future."
From October 13 to 15, 2005, a Hamsheni international scientific convention was held in Sochi. The conference was organized under the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Russian-Armenian Commonwealth Organization of Moscow (commissioned by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation) with help from the Armenian Scientific Informational and Cultural Center, "Hamshen" (Krasnodar, Russia) and Russian Armenian newspaper Yerkramas. It involved scholars from Armenia, Russia, the United States, Germany, and Iran to discuss the past of the Hamshenis. Among the reports presented at the event were "Hamshen: A Historical and Geographic Outline," "Hamshen Armenians," "Pont and Armenia in 1914-1921," "Genocide of Hamshen Armenians in 1915-1923," "Abkhazian Armenians on the Threshold of 21st century," and others. Following the conference, ethnic ensembles of Hamsheni Armenians of the Black Sea coast of Kuban gave a cultural performance.
See also
- Armenians in Turkey
- Islam in Armenia
- Cherkesogai
- Pomaks
- Greek Muslims
- Chveneburi
- Ajarians
- Laz people
- Zilkale
References
- Bert Vaux, Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians, Harvard University, 2001.
- Mack Chahin, The Kingdom of Armenia: A History, Routledge, London, 2001. (ISBN 0-7007-1452-9)
- Robert H. Hewsen, Armenia: A Historical Atlas, University Of Chicago Press, 2000. (ISBN 0-226-33228-4)
- Peter Alford Andrews, Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1989. (ISBN 3-89500-297-6)
Footnotes
- Hamshen and Hamshen Armenians Conference Concluded In Sochi
- Laz-Turkish dictionary at karalahana.com
- Hovann Simonian (ed.) "The Hemshin", London, 2007. p. xxi.
- Hovann Simonian (ed.) "The Hemshin", London, 2007. pp. 52-99.
- Türkiye'de Etnik Gruplar, Peter Alford Andrews, p. 183, 1992 Istanbul (attention: illegal edition! Unauthorized translation: Mustafa Küpüşoğlu, editor: Cemal Şener, cf. http://www.peterandrews.info/files/Raubedition.pdf)
- Hemşin Gizemi Bilimin Pençesinde May 18 2002, Agos Template:Tr icon
- ^ Julia Hakobyan (2007-03-02). "A Different Tradition: Hamshen Armenians struggle for identity and recognition". ArmeniaNow. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- ^ Template:Tr icon Şener, Cemal. "Lazlar/Hemşinler". Karacaahmetsultan Kültürünü Koruma, Yaşatma ve Türbesini Onarma Derneği.
- Template:Tr icon
- Hürriyet interview with Karayalçın Template:Tr icon
- http://www.karadeniz.nl/modules.php?op=modload&name=My_eGallery&file=index&do=showpic&pid=118&orderby=hitsA Tevfik Rüştü Aras and Murat Karayalçın hail from Hemşin] Template:Tr icon
- Bulletin: "Ecodialogue Project". Association for Further Development of Civil Society.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|access date=(help); External link in|publisher= - Bert Vaux himself had as primary Hemshinli informant a young man in his twenties, whose name was changed "to protect the innocent".
- Bulletin: "Improving the conservation status of the Caucasian Black Grouse". World Conservation Union.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|access date=(help) - "Hamshenis denied return to Armenian SSR". Retrieved 2007-02-06.
- Window on Eurasia: Russian Region Persecutes Armenian Muslims
External links
- Hamshen.org, a multi-lingual discussion forum on Hamshen topics
- Hemşin / Hamshen folk architecture
- Template:Tr icon "Momi" ve "Hamşetsi" Olmak..... An interview with the director of Momi on the film and Hamshenis
- Template:Tr icon Damardan Hemşin Ezgileri: VOVA News article on Vova
- Template:Tr icon Hamshenis bakers in Russia before 1917
- Hamshen - Armeniapedia.org
- Karalahana.com: Hemşin: A Unique Land
- Hamsheni-Turkish Dictionary at the Voice of Hopa website features Hamsheni words and their Turkish equivalents.
- CD with Songs Having Lyrics in Hamshen Dialect of Armenian Language Released in Krasnodar News article about the release with concise info on Hamshenis
| Armenian diaspora | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Historic areas of Armenian settlement | ||
| Caucasus | ||
| Former Soviet Union | ||
| Americas | ||
| Europe | ||
| Middle East | ||
| Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| Oceania | ||