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108-538: The Hemshin people ( Armenian : Համշենցիներ , Hamshentsiner ; Turkish : Hemşinliler ), also known as Hemshinli or Hamshenis or Homshetsi , are a bilingual ethnographic group of Armenians who practice Sunni Islam after their conversion from Christianity in the beginning of the 18th century and are affiliated with the Hemşin and Çamlıhemşin districts in the province of Rize , Turkey . They are Armenian in origin, and were originally Christians and members of

216-479: A "pushi" or long piece of cloth donned with beads, while men often choose to wear hats and vests made of wool or cotton. The Hemshin people and their mansions were featured in issue 12 of Cornucopia magazine. The "Turkey for the Turks" ideology, writes Neal Ascherson , "offered no security for minorities" with "the tiny Hemşinli group having especially compelling reasons to keep its head down" because "its members are

324-769: 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,

432-520: A consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that

540-621: A failed uprising against their brother, King Chenbakur. The Parthian king settled the two brothers and their household in Armenia, where they founded the Mamikonian clan. Another 5th-century Armenian historian, Pavstos Buzand , also mentions the reputed Chinese/ Chen origin of the Mamikonians. In his History of Armenia , he twice mentions that the Mamikonians descended from the royal house of Chenk’ /China and as such were not inferior to

648-412: A former Deputy Prime Minister and mayor of Ankara who is from Şenyuva (Çinçiva) village of Çamlıhemşin . 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" has set itself as goal raising environment consciousness of the region's enterprises and improving

756-477: A great Armenian rebellion against their Sasanian overlords, provoked by Yazdegerd II 's attempts to impose Zoroastrianism on Armenia and other outrages. The rebellion was opposed by a party of pro-Persian Armenian nobles led by marzpan Vasak Siwni . Although Vardan and many other leading Armenian noblemen died at the Battle of Avarayr in 451, the continued insurrection led by Vardan's nephew Vahan Mamikonian and

864-563: A language called "Hemşince" or ("Homşetsi" and/or Homshetsma in some sources) as well as Turkish. Recent studies by Hovann Simonian (Author: The Hemshin: A Handbook (Caucasus World)) suggest that this language is an archaic dialect of Armenian subject to influence from Turkish and Laz. Vaux also reports that "Hemşince" has been subject to influence from Turkish to a much greater extent than other Armenian dialects. Hemşince and Armenian are largely mutually unintelligible. In addition to these two groups there are people speaking Hemşince / Homshetsma in

972-468: A loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. Loan words from Iranian languages , along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that

1080-425: A network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened

1188-462: A non-Mamikonian noble, Smbat Saharuni . On this event, the family leadership passed to Mushegh's brother, Manuel Mamikonian , who had formerly been kept as a hostage in Persia. The Mamikonians at once broke into insurrection and routed Varazdat and Saharuni at Karin . Varazdat fled abroad and Manuel installed the two underage sons of Pap, Vagharshak (Vologases) and Arshak as kings of Armenia under

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1296-501: A yayla known as Tahpur or Tagpur, in the heights of Kaptanpasa. Simonian states that Tambur is probably in the vicinity of Varoşkale (altitude 1800 m). A description of "Haynsen" in the Kingdom of Georgia , its inhabitants and history is contained in La Fleur des histoires de la terre d'Orient by Hayton of Corycus , written around 1307, translated into English in 1520, and later reproduced in

1404-545: Is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages . It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization , although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian

1512-545: Is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language * ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"),

1620-469: Is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós , with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá ), Avestan ( ərəzifiia ), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios ). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely

1728-697: Is known was a certain Vache Mamikonian ( fl. 330–339). According to Pavstos Buzand, Vache Mamikonian, son of Artavazd and sparapet of Armenia, was ordered by King Khosrov III to exterminate two feuding noble families, the Manavazians and the Ordunis. Vache also successfully defended Armenia against Sanesan , the invading king of the Maskuts , slaying the latter in a battle near Oshakan Fortress and receiving new holdings as reward. He later fell in battle against

1836-466: Is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian , although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam , "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta , "head". In 1985,

1944-582: Is the working language. Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus , Hungary , Iraq , Poland , Romania , and Ukraine . It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . Mamikonian Mamikonian , or Mamikonean ( Old Armenian : Մամիկոնեան , reformed orthography : Մամիկոնյան , Western Armenian pronunciation: Mamigonian ),

2052-608: The Arab conquest of Armenia in the late 7th century, especially relative to their great rivals, the Bagratunis (Bagratids), who were generally favored by the Arabs. Several Mamikonian nobles served as presiding princes of Armenia under Arab rule, but the house lost its traditional office of sparapet to the Bagratunis in the 8th century. Grigor Mamikonian led a rebellion against Arab rule but

2160-586: The Armenian Apostolic Church , but evolved into a distinct community over the centuries and converted to Sunni Islam after the conquest of the region by the Ottomans during the second half of the 15th century. In Turkey, Hemshin people do not speak the Homshetsi dialect apart from those living in provinces of Artvin and Sakarya and their mother tongue is now Turkish. For centuries, the ongoing migration from

2268-458: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet (" օ " and " ֆ "), bringing the total number to 38. The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of

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2376-553: The Armenian genocide , mostly in the diaspora ). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon 's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis ),

2484-567: The Arsacid rulers of Armenia. Although it seems that the legend of Mamikonian origins, even if untrue, does indeed concern China, more recent scholarship suggests that Chenk’ is to be identified either with the Tzans , a Kartvelian tribe in the southern Caucasus , or with a Central Asian group living near the Syr Darya river. Nicholas Adontz believed the legend to be "a confusion, prompted by

2592-665: The Bagratunis claimed Davidic descent and the Artsrunis claimed royal Assyrian ancestry. The later medieval Armenian author Vardan Areveltsi mentions that the Chenk’ live in the Caucasus near Derbend . One scholar argued in the 1920s that the Chenk’ were a Turkic group that lived by the Syr Darya. The Mamikonians feature prominently in the works of most of the classical Armenian historians. Pavstos Buzand speaks highly favorably of

2700-701: The Empire of Trebizond , the Kingdom of Georgia , the Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu Turkmen Confederations until it was annexed by the Ottoman Empire which collapsed as a result of the World War I and gave birth to the Republic of Turkey. The Ottoman conquest of Hemshin occurred sometime in the 1480s: an Ottoman register dated around 1486 calls it Hemshin and mentions it as being an Ottoman possession. Turkish influence

2808-531: The Georgian lands. The latter-day Georgian feudal houses of the Liparitids-Orbeliani and Tumanishvili are sometimes surmised to have been descended from those princes. Several scholars—most notably Cyril Toumanoff and Nicholas Adontz —have suggested a Mamikonian origin for a number of leading Byzantine families and individuals, beginning with the emperor Philippikos Bardanes in the early-8th century,

2916-701: The Georgian Civil War . Since 2000, several hundred of the Muslim Hamshenis in Russia who have resettled 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

3024-631: The Greek language , the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages . Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek ( s > h ). Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe

3132-508: The History of Taron by John Mamikonean in a short passage about a war between the ruler of Tambur, Hamam, and his maternal uncle the Georgian Prince, which resulted in the destruction of the town to be rebuilt by Hamam and be named after him, namely Hamamshen. As soon as [Tiran] read the letter, another letter arrived the same day from Vashdean's sister's son, Hamam, acquainting [Tiran] with

3240-631: The Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands , the " Armenian hypothesis ". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic , splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian ). Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar ), attested from

3348-528: The Mekhitarists . The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar , was published in grabar in 1794. The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages , primarily Parthian , and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian . An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and

Hemshin people - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-629: The Meskhetian Turks . Hemshin peoples are well known for their baking, tea growing, and the clever jokes, riddles, and stories that they tell. Some of the anecdotes that the Muslim Hemshinli 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

3564-742: The Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the Hamshenis of Kazakhstan began petitioning for the government to move them to the Armenian SSR . However, this move 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

3672-636: The United States , Germany , and Iran to discuss the past of the Hamshenis. Ministers Other Tulum artists Other Armenian language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Armenian

3780-656: The partition of Armenia between the Sasanians and the Romans. Pavstos writes that Manuel was succeeded by his son Artashir as sparapet . Hamazasp Mamikonian is recorded as the family patriarch in 393. He married Sahakanoysh, daughter of Patriarch Isaac the Great . She was a descendant of the Arsacid kings and Saint Gregory the Illuminator . Through this marriage, the Mamikonians gained

3888-554: The "Hopa Hemşinli". Professor of Linguistics Bert Vaux at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee refers to this group as the "Eastern Hamshenis". Hemşinli and Hopa Hemşinli are separated not only by geography but also by language and some features of culture. The two groups are almost oblivious to one another's existence. Simonian reports various theories regarding the appearance of the Hopa Hemshinli group. Those theories relate to whether

3996-725: The 16th century. A number of population movements (both into and out of the region) also happened during the Ottoman era. Even though detailed information regarding the nature of these movements is missing, in summary: The present community of Hemshinli is exclusively Muslim and Turkish speaking. This goes for the people living in Hemshin or people maintaining links to the area and living elsewhere in Turkey. A distinct community settled about 50 km east of Hemşin in villages around Hopa and Borçka also call themselves "Hemşinli". They are often referred to as

4104-408: The 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian , attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from

4212-481: The Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually,

4320-522: The Armenian regions of Tayk , Taron , Sasun , and Bagrevand , among others. The Mamikonians had a reputation as supporters of the Roman (later Byzantine ) Empire in Armenia against Sasanian Iran , although they also served as viceroys under Persian rule . Their influence over Armenian affairs began to decline at the end of the 6th century and suffered a final, decisive blow after a failed rebellion against Arab rule over Armenia in 774/75. The origin of

4428-506: The Arsacid Period (63–298 AD) Heniochi , Machelones , Heptakometians, Mossynoeci as well as Sanni , Drilae and Macrones are mentioned. The Hemşin region is shown as part of Colchis (299–387), Tzanica (387–591) and Chaldia (654–750). The specific location of Hemşin is indicated as Tambur/Hamamašen as a fort and town for the first time in the map covering the period 654–750. Those two names (Tambur and Hamamašen) are included in

Hemshin people - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-536: The Bagratunis. One Kurdik Mamikonian was recorded as ruling Sasun c. 800, where the Surb Karapet Monastery and family seat was. Half a century later, Grigor Mamikonian lost Bagrevand to the Muslims, reconquered it in the early 860s and then lost it to the Bagratunis, permanently. After that, the Mamikonians pass out of history. After their disastrous uprising of 774–775, some of the Mamikonian princes moved to

4644-463: The Byzantine Emperor, after they crossed the Çoruh . This migration is dated to be after 789 by Ghewond and as 750 by Stephen Asoghik of Taron. Benninghaus specifies "Tambur" as the destination of the migration led by Hamam and his father Shapuh Amaduni and says that they have seemingly met people there who were already Christians, possibly Greeks. Redgate informs about possible symbolism used in

4752-678: The Eastern group) or the Hamshna-Zurna (Hamsheni zurna ) (for the Northern group). The traditional occupations of the Turkish Hemshinli 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 . The people of Hemshin are known for their traditional dress. Women often choose to wrap their head with

4860-451: The Ghewond's history and possible garbling in Mamikonian's history, and cautions not to take everything at face value. Hachikian states "There is no clue as to where Tambur, the legendary capital of Hamshen, was located. The only certain thing about it is that it clearly belonged to a much earlier time - if it existed at all". He also mentions in the footnote the name similarity between Tambur and

4968-460: The Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv , meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu . This word

5076-505: The Mamikonians is shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Movses Khorenatsi in his History of Armenia (traditionally dated to the 5th century) claims that in the year of the death of Ardashir I (i.e., 242) a nobleman of Chen ( Old Armenian : Ճեն , plural Ճենք , Chenk’ , thought to refer to China ) origin named Mamgon fled to the Persian court after being sentenced to death by Arbok Chen-bakur, his foster brother (or half-brother) and

5184-459: The Persian side, including Vasak's renegade brother Vahan Mamikonian. Vasak was later flayed alive after being lured to Persia for peace negotiations together with Arshak II. Shapur laid waste to Armenia and installed Meruzhan Artsruni and Vahan Mamikonian as governors (according to Pavstos, Vahan was later killed by his own son, Samuel). Vasak was succeeded as sparapet by his son Mushegh I Mamikonian , who restored Arshak's heir, Pap , to

5292-525: The Persians and was succeeded as sparapet by his son Artavazd, who was a child at the time, since "no other adult could be found in that clan." This episode and others in Pavstos' History illustrate the nature of the office of sparapet as the exclusive and hereditary possession of the Mamikonian clan. The family reappears in chronicles in 355, during the reign of Arshak (Arsaces) II . At that point

5400-656: The Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide . In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous , Armenian is spoken among the diaspora . According to Ethnologue , globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers. In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of

5508-454: The Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul , whereas Tbilisi became

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5616-815: The Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages . Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne ), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu ), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri ). Some of

5724-450: The Turkish rule, two most important developments are human migrations and conversions . Most sources agree that prior to Ottoman era majority of the residents of Hemshin were Christian and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The details and the accompanying circumstances for the migrations and the conversions during the Ottoman era are not clearly known or documented. As a result of those developments, distinctive communities with

5832-548: The Y-chromosomal markers of the Hemshin indicated the central part of the historical Armenian highlands as a plausible place of origin for the Hamsheni population. The region of Hemshin is located on the coast of the Black sea, in the highlands of Rize Province . According to historical accounts, Armenians first settled in that region in the end of 8th century. While escaping Arab persecutions, about 12,000 Armenians led by Prince Shapuh Amatuni and his son Hamam moved to Pontos , ruled by Byzantine Empire . Robert H. Hewsen shows

5940-450: 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. From October 13 to 15, 2005,

6048-434: The center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to

6156-419: The contrary, he reports, Hamshen served sometimes as a transit route between the coastal regions and the Armenian Highlands. In his analysis of the literary and non-literary sources from the 8th through the 19th centuries, combined with excursions into Hamšēn during the 1980s to identify the surviving Armenian architecture, Dr. Robert W. Edwards has defined the geographical perimeters of that region and assessed

6264-421: The countries of the former USSR whose ancestors probably originated from Hemşin and/or Hopa Hemşin in course of the various population movements to the Caucasus. Many of the Muslim Hemşince speakers in the former USSR were deported from the Adjara area of Georgia during the Stalin era to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Since 1989, a considerable number of these deportees have moved to Krasnodar Krai since 1989, along with

6372-401: The country's subjugation by the Persians, the Mamikonians often sided with the Eastern Roman Empire , with many family members entering Byzantine service, most notably Vardan II Mamikonian in the late 6th century after his failed revolt against Persia. Vardan's failed revolt marked the beginning of the decline of the Mamikonian dynasty in Armenia. The power of the Mamikonians waned further with

6480-412: The date given by the author may be wrong. Two other Armenian chronicles Ghewond and Stepanos Asoghik of Taron, report in short passages in their histories about a migration from Armenia/Oshakan led by prince Shapuh Amatuni and his son Hamam. Ghewond conveys this immigration to be to avoid heavy taxes imposed on Armenians by the Arab rulers. The Amatuni lords are offered fertile land to settle down by

6588-432: The daughter of Mushegh VI, the last living Mamikonian prince. This marriage created the Kaysite dynasty of Arminiya centered in Manzikert, the most powerful Muslim Arab emirate in the Armenian Highlands region, and thus ending the existence of the Mamikonian line in Armenia. Only secondary lines of the family survived thereafter, both in Transcaucasia and in Byzantium. Even in their homeland of Tayk, they were succeeded by

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6696-456: The death of Peroz I resulted in the restoration of Armenian autonomy and religious rights with the Treaty of Nvarsak (484). Vahan was confirmed as sparapet by the Persians and appointed marzpan of Armenia in 485. Vardan Mamikonian, immortalized by the histories of Ghazar Parpetsi and Elishe , is venerated as a saint by the Armenian Church and commemorated by many churches in Armenia and an equestrian statue in Yerevan . After

6804-435: The death of the last hereditary Patriarch of Armenia , Isaac in ca. 428, when they inherited many Church lands through the marriage of his only daughter to Hamazasp Mamikonian. The family first appears in the early 4th century, although Toumanoff asserts that Mancaeus, who defended Tigranocerta against the Romans in 69 BC, was a member of the dynasty. The first Mamikonian lord, or nakharar , about whom anything certain

6912-509: The descendants of Armenians." Beginning in the 1930s, a number of Turkish historians attempted to ascribe an entirely Turkish origin to the Hemshinli, the most prominent of them being M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu, whose theories have since gained wide currency among the community. His theories on the Hemshinli, however, have come under close scrutiny and have been roundly criticized. The German scholars Wolfgang Feurstein and Tucha Berdsena describe Kırzıoğlu's methodology as so: At first Kırzıoğlu assaults

7020-446: The dynasty, while Movses Khorenatsi is noticeably hostile to them and minimizes their role. Under the late Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia , the family occupied a preeminent position among the Armenian noble houses: they were hereditary commanders-in-chief of the army ( sparapet ) and royal tutors ( dayeak ) and controlled large domains, including most of Taron and Tayk . The Mamikonians later increased their property further with

7128-449: The existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in

7236-497: The family chief was sparapet Vasak Mamikonian . When Arshak II sided with the Sasanian Empire against the Eastern Roman Empire, Vasak raided Roman lands for six years. After Arshak switched to the Roman side against Persia, Vasak Mamikonian commanded the Armenian defense, winning a series of victories against Shapur II's forces, although he was unable to capture the rebellious Armenian nobleman Meruzhan Artsruni . After years of warfare, multiple other Armenian lords defected to

7344-421: The family's power came in the mid-770s with the defeat and death of Mushegh VI Mamikonian at the Battle of Bagrevand against the Abbasids . After the battle, Mushegh's two sons took refuge in Vaspurakan and were murdered by Meruzhan II Artsruni. Mushegh's daughter was married off to Djahap al-Qais, a tribal chief who settled in Armenia and seized part of the former Mamikonian lands and legalized it by marrying

7452-462: The first motion picture in Homshetsi, Momi ("Grandma"), released in 2000. As a result, Alper was accused in the Court for State Security of producing material intended to destroy the unity of the state, under article 8 of Turkey's anti-terror law. This law was repealed in 2003 after EU pressure, and Alper's trial did not go ahead. Hamsheni singer Gökhan Birben (from the Western group) and Laz singer Kâzım Koyuncu had also sung in Homshetsi. In 2005,

7560-414: The first music album exclusively of anonymous Hamshen folk songs and sung mostly in Homshetsi, Vova - Hamşetsu Ğhağ was released. Older generations of Turkish Hemshinli see the reference "Ermeni" (often used by their Laz neighbours) as an insult. 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

7668-410: The formal regency of their mother, Zarmandukht . Manuel also married his daughter Vardandukht to Arshak III and accepted the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, as Roman power had effectively ended in the East following the defeat at Adrianople in 378. Armenia was to retain its autonomy but be overseen by a marzpan (governor) appointed by the Persian king. Manuel's death c. 385 precipitated

7776-626: 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

7884-451: The general and usurper Artabasdos in the mid-8th century, the families of men like Alexios Mosele or Empress Theodora and her brothers Bardas and Petronas in the 9th century, and the Phokas family in the 10th century. However, as the Armenian historian Nina Garsoïan comments, "[a]ttractive though it is, this thesis cannot be proven for want of sources". The history of Mamikonians in

7992-496: The geographically isolated highlands to lowlands made the Hemshin people settle in the areas near Trabzon , Artvin and in the Western part of the Black Sea coast. Thus, a significant Hemsheni population formed in those areas. The origins of the Hemshin people has remained a subject of debate among scholars. The main two purported homelands of the Hemshin have been Eastern Armenia and Western Armenia . A 2011 genetic survey based on

8100-489: The groups migrated from Hemshin or they were settled by the Ottoman authorities, whether the migration/settlement was in the early 16th or late 17th centuries, and whether the migration took place in one step or two waves. The Hopa Hemşinli are exclusively Muslim as well. Simonian reports that there is a controversy regarding whether they arrived in the Hopa region as Muslims or converted to Islam after arrival. The Hopa Hemşinli speak

8208-589: The historical impact of its extreme isolation. Sources of the ruling powers in the region, (Byzantine, Trapezuntine, Georgian, Armenian and Turkish) are silent about Hemshin; until the conquest by the Ottomans. It is deduced that Hemşin has been governed by local lords under the umbrella of the greater regional powers changing by the time namely the Bagratid Armenian kingdom , the Byzantine Empire , its successor

8316-425: The hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages , based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies ), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy )

8424-464: The interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or

8532-631: The king of Chenk’ , due to the scheming of a third brother and prince, Bghdokh. Chen-bakur demanded Mamgon's extradition from Ardashir's successor, Shapur I , who instead exiled the prince to Armenia, where he entered the service of the Armenian king Trdat and received land for him and his entourage to settle, founding the Mamikonian dynasty. A slightly different story is recorded in the Primary History traditionally attributed to Sebeos , according to which two noble brothers from Chenastan named Mamik and Konak, sons of Karnam, fled to Parthia after

8640-434: The late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by

8748-515: The love of exotic origins, between the ethnicon čen and that of the Georgian Čan-ians ( Tzanni ) or Lazi [...] who were settled in the neighbourhood of Tayk῾." He derives the dynasty's name from Georgian mama , meaning father, combined with the Armenian diminutive suffix -ik . This view is shared by Cyril Toumanoff , who describes the Mamikonians as the "immemorial dynasts of Tayk῾." Other Armenian dynasties also claimed foreign royal ancestry:

8856-560: The morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism . In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire , while Western Armenia , containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between

8964-403: The now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of

9072-526: The official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh . It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian

9180-569: The oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir . The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet . While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that

9288-474: The parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek

9396-407: The path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. After World War I ,

9504-536: 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. Interest in Hamshen heritage is rising among Christian Hamshenis in

9612-552: The population. The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified . The current Republic of Armenia upholds

9720-508: The prince. [Vashdean] ordered the Iranians to kill the priests in the church named Holy Zion. The bishop had silently prayed to God to ask only that the city be turned into a desert and a ruin and that for all eternity no one reside there. He threw himself on the altar and [the Iranians] sacrificed him on Pentecost before mass was offered to Christ. On the next day there was a cloudburst and [Vashdean]

9828-416: The reader with a flow of historical peoples; he then searches for some kind of phonetic correspondence or similarity with an old Turkish tribe, flavors this alleged historical outpouring with a pinch of "Islam," and presents himself as a competent researcher of Turkishness. Probably never before has a single person in Turkey falsified history so massively! The filmmaker Özcan Alper , an eastern Hemshinli, made

9936-429: The region where today's Hemşin is located to be populated by a people with different designations throughout the ancient and early medieval history. He indicates thereby that some designations may have alternative forms and partially presents the names used with question marks. In summary from 13th century to 6th century BC Colchians , 550 to 330 BC Colchians and Macrones , 180 BC to 14 AD Lazoi (Chani/Tzan tribes), in

10044-436: The representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family , ancestral to

10152-458: The same generic name have also appeared in the vicinity of Hopa , Turkey as well as in the Caucasus . Those three communities are almost oblivious to one another's existence. Two major developments in the Hemshin region during the Ottoman era: Islamization and population movements. Islam may have begun to spread prior to the Ottoman rule, but it did not become the general religion before the end of

10260-463: The similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family . The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary . He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded

10368-462: The sounds of men bellowing, of cocks crowing, of horses neighing in the forest," Those people are described by Hayton, leaning upon Georgian and Armenian Histories, to be the descendants of the men of the "wicked" Iranian Emperor Shaworeos who had chased and harassed Christian people. The referenced translation suggests this Emperor could be Shapur II (309–379 AD). Simonian considers the so described difficulty in access not to imply total isolation. On

10476-512: The terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European , he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan , have rejected many of

10584-482: The throne c. 367/370 with the support of an imperial army sent by the emperor Valens . Mushegh drove the Persians out of Armenia and brutally punished the provinces that had revolted against the Arsacid monarchy, restoring the kingdom's former borders. Following Pap's murder in 374, Mushegh acted as regent for the new king Varazdat (Varasdates) . Varazdat attempted to free himself of Mamikonian tutelage by ordering Mushegh's murder and replacing him as sparapet with

10692-512: The travellers' tales of Samuel Purchas published in 1614. Purchas uses the term "Hamsem" to designate the region and concludes that this is the place of the original Cimmerian gloom of Homer 's Odyssey . The translation of He'tum's related passage to modern English uses the term Hamshen. Hayton describes the region to be "miraculous and strange place" unbelievable unless seen by one's own eyes, dark and without roads. Signs of human settlement are that "People in those parts say that one frequently hears

10800-465: The treachery before him from the troops who had come from Iran. He immediately wrote a letter to Vashdean reprimanding him for his plot. Vashdean grew angry and had Hamam's feet and hands lopped off. Then, taking the Iranians, [Vashdean] crossed the Chorox river and went to Hamam's city, named Tambur, which he attacked with fire and sword and enslaved. Now the blessed bishop of the city, Manknos, severely cursed

10908-508: The western part of Taron centered on Ashtishat , as well as Bagrevand and Ekegheats (Acilisene). Hamazasp and Sahakanush's eldest child Vardan Mamikonian is revered for his leadership of the Armenian rebellion against Persia in 450/451 (called Vardanants’ paterazm in Armenian, meaning "the war of Vardan and his companions"). After Vardan became sparapet in 432, the Persians summoned him to Ctesiphon . Upon his return home in 450, Vardan repudiated Zoroastrianism and instigated

11016-519: Was an Armenian aristocratic dynasty which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th centuries. They were the most notable noble house in Early Christian Armenia after the ruling Arsacid dynasty and held the hereditary positions of sparapet (supreme commander of the army) and dayeak (royal tutor), allowing them to play the role of kingmaker for the later Armenian kings. They ruled over extensive territories, including

11124-652: 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 and 1960, as well as Damat Mehmet Ali Pasha , the Ottoman Grand Vizier on the eve of the Crimean War in 1853 were also of Hamsheni descent. The community issued other important names in Turkish history and society such as Murat Karayalçın ,

11232-419: Was consumed by fire as he sat by the city gates of Tambur. Hamam subsequently [re]built this [city] calling it after himself, Hamamashen. And Mangnos' prayer was realized. In one night 3,000 men died, others fled, and the city remained a ruin. This event is declared by Mamikonian to have taken place in early seventh century. Hamamashen became Hamshen over time. Simonian who conveys this story reports also that

11340-569: Was defeated and forced to flee to Byzantium in ca. 748. By 750, the Mamikonians had lost Taron, Khlat, and Mush to the Bagratunis. In the 770s, the family was led by Artavazd Mamikonian, then by Mushegh IV Mamikonian (+772) and by Samuel II. The latter married his daughter to Smbat VII Bagratuni , constable of Armenia. His grandson Ashot Msaker ("the Carnivorous") became forefather of the Bagratuni rulers of Armenia and Taron. The final death-blow to

11448-534: Was firmly established in the region after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, after which the Seljuk Turks and other Turkish tribes gained a strong foothold in Central Anatolia and Western Armenian Highlands , often referred to as Eastern Anatolia , bringing the local population in contact with the religion of Islam . In the 15th century, the region of Hamshen was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire . During

11556-405: Was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages . The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century,

11664-666: Was the Armenian Alexander Romance . The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages , particularly Parthian ; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian , and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since

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