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Hidden Armenians (Armenian: թաքնված հայեր, romanized: t’ak’nvats hayer; Turkish: Gizli Ermeniler) or crypto-Armenians (Kripto Ermeniler)[1] is an umbrella term to describe Turkish citizens hiding their full or partial Armenian ancestry from the larger Turkish society.[2] They are mostly descendants of Ottoman Armenians who, at least outwardly, were Islamized (and Turkified or Kurdified) "under the threat of physical extermination" during the Armenian genocide.[3][4]
Turkish journalist Erhan Başyurt[a] describes hidden Armenians as "families (and in some cases, entire villages or neighbourhoods) [...] who converted to Islam to escape the deportations and death marches [of 1915], but continued their hidden lives as Armenians, marrying among themselves and, in some cases, clandestinely reverting to Christianity."[5] According to the 2012 European Commission report on Turkey, a "number of crypto-Armenians have started to use their original names and religion."[6] The Economist suggests that the number of Turks who reveal their Armenian background is growing.[7] In Turkish, they are referred to by the derogatory term "leftovers of the sword" (Turkish: kılıç artıkları).[8][9]
Although today's inhabitants of Geben hesitate to call themselves Armenians, a growing number of "crypto-Armenians" (people forced to change identity) do just that.
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