Was denken Armenier über das Hemshin-Volk?
https://i.redd.it/mi1s2hebzszg1.png
Von Miserable_Let_1987
Was denken Armenier über das Hemshin-Volk?
https://i.redd.it/mi1s2hebzszg1.png
Von Miserable_Let_1987
7 Kommentare
I wonder why hamshens along with tortum ispir bayburt armenians converted to islam in such high numbers compared to armenians from other regions that didnt do it as much.
Personally, I see the Hemshin people as one of the saddest chapters of Armenian history. Historically, they came from Armenian populations in the Hamshen region, but over centuries many were gradually isolated, Islamized, and assimilated under Ottoman rule. Later, the Armenian Genocide and wider persecution of Armenians made things even worse, because openly identifying as Armenian could become dangerous or even life-threatening.
What makes the story especially tragic is that assimilation in the region often did not happen peacefully or voluntarily. Throughout the Ottoman era and during the genocide, many Armenian women and children were forcibly taken, converted, or absorbed into other households and communities. Over generations, entire families lost their language, faith, and connection to their roots simply to survive.
Despite all that, many Hemshin communities still preserved fragments of Armenian culture, traditions, music, and even linguistic traces. You can sometimes still see echoes of that older heritage beneath the surface after centuries of pressure and separation.
I don’t think they should be judged or hated. If anything, they deserve understanding and compassion. Their history reflects what centuries of persecution, forced assimilation, and the trauma surrounding the genocide did to entire communities. I just hope the Hemshin people as a whole can one day experience the freedom to openly explore and reconnect with their ancestral heritage, culture, and the faith their ancestors once belonged to, if they choose to do so, without fear, pressure, or hostility.
Let’s be optimistic that normalising our releationship with Turkey will give them that opportunity.
They exist and speak a wacky dialect (or should it be categorised as a language by now?) and are a subgroup of Armenians that are heavily mixed with laz people
They are definitely interesting people as some of them have converted to I lam and oth fled to Abkhazia and kept their religion some of them identify as Armenian and some are absolutely hostile towards Armenian either claiming to be Turkish or laz whose ancestors were forced to speak Armenian lol
Whatever floats their boat I guess but I couldn’t care less about those of them that are hostile towards Armenians
They are simply Armenians who are Muslim
Some Hamshens did not convert to Islam. They have remained Christian and eventually escaped to Russia and Abkhazia. I am curious, how did one group of Hamshens converted and other didn’t?
They don’t like being called Armenian.
Personally they are like our 4th cousins
Are they Armenians no. They dont consider themselves Armenian generally, they dont speak a language that would be mutually intelligible with modern Western or Eastern Armenian, and theyre mostly Muslim
Are they related to us sure but they effectively stopped being Armenian when they converted to Islam and as such deviated to such a degree theyre basically their own ethnicity
Dont hate em dont love em just another people group
Also a really cool history. But thats just historian in me that loves this kind of stuff