![]() The flag that is used by Hamshen People in Abkhazia | |
Total population | |
150,000[1][2]–200,000[3] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
![]() Artvin (almost half: Kemalpaşa; minority: Hopa) Trabzon (minority: Araklı) Erzurum (minority: Tortum, İspir) Diaspora communities in Sakarya and Düzce | |
![]() | 150,000[4] |
![]() | 1,047[5] |
Languages | |
Armenian (Homshetsi dialect) Turkish | |
Religion | |
Sunni Islam in Turkey Armenian Apostolic in Georgia and Russia | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Armenians, Pontic Greeks, Laz people |
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Subgroups |
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The Hemshin people (Armenian: Համշենցիներ, Hamshentsiner; Turkish: Hemşinliler), also known as Hemshinli or Hamshenis or Homshetsi,[6][7][8] are a bilingual[9] small group of Armenians who practice Sunni Islam after they had been converted from Christianity in the beginning of the 18th century[10] and are affiliated with the Hemşin and Çamlıhemşin districts in the province of Rize, Turkey.[11][12][13][14] They are Armenian in origin, and were originally Christian members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but over the centuries evolved into a distinct community and converted to Sunni Islam after the conquest of the region by the Ottomans during the second half of the 15th century.[1] In Turkey, apart from those living in provinces of Artvin and Sakarya, Hemshin people do not speak the Homshetsi dialect and their mother tongue is Turkish.[15]
For centuries, the ongoing migration from the geographically isolated highlands to lowlands made Hemshin people settle in the areas near Trabzon, Artvin and in the Western part of the Black Sea coast.[16] Thus, is a significant Hamsheni population were formed in Trabzon, Artvin and Western part of the Black Sea coast.
Türkiye'de yaşayan Hemşinlilerin Hopa, Borçka ve Adapazarı'ında yaşayanlarının dışındakiler, Ermenice'nin bir lehçesi olan Hemşin Ermenicesi'ni konuşamamaktadır.