How ISIS, Marxist Leninists Kurds, the fight for Kobane a video in YouTube led me to discover a silent Armenian Minority in Turkey

The Hemşin peoples

Armenian: Համշենցիներ, Hamshentsiner

Turkish: Hemşinliler

A thread full of music.

Someone brought in my timeline this tweet,
Communist Kurds dancing on a rooftop, celebrating the defeat of ISIS in Kobane.

I have been to Syrian marriages and their dance reminded me of Syrians celebrating, so i turned on the sound https://twitter.com/hoxhapalian/status/1344516366091616256

Someone edited the original video and did a voice over with Crystal Castles's - Crimewave.

Nice dance beat, but i reaaally doubt that the people on the rooftop ever heard of it.

So my curiosity led me to search for the original

This is the original in YouTube, according to the description:

" These fighters are kurds/turks who have fought against ISIS in Syria. The celebration probably happened after some victory against ISIS.
The name of the song is Hopa Hemsin."

"The name of the song is Hopa Hemsin."

So it is kurds/turks that dance it, it must be Kurdish right?

Well this is what i thought too.

The rhythm is Frantic, full of energy and joy,

AWESOME!

I searched it by name and i found the original recording

By VOVA

I kept it playing in repeat mode while i was working, such an upbeat song!

Dionysus, the ancient god of grape-harvest, winemaking and wine, of fertility, orchards and fruit, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity & theatre would joyfully throw a party with it!

The sound was so familiar to our Hellenic heritage, the Zournas from Thrace, the Lyra from Pontus.

I looked in the details, SONGS OF HEMHSIN

What is Hemhsin i wondered ?

They are a diverse group of peoples who in the past or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin and Çamlıhemşin districts in the province of Rize, Turkey.

Also known as Hemshinli or Hamshenis or Homshetsi,

They are Armenian in origin and were originally Christian.

and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but over the centuries evolved into a distinct ethnic group and converted to Sunni Islam after the conquest of the Ottomans of the region during the second half of the 15th century.

Following the Seljuk invasions 1037–1194, the Armenians of Ani fled to Hemshin which had never been inhabited before.

Continuous influx of Armenians from the south followed, resulting in an armenization of the area through expelling local Laz or Tzan population.

After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, 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.

Hamshens came under the influence of Islam in the 15th century and became Muslims collectively in the 18th century, and those who preferred to remain Christians dispersed to other Black Sea cities , especially Trabzon.

Apart from Turks, Laz and Pontic Greeks,

they also had very little contact with Christian Armenians.

In this way, the phenomenon of continuing with their own "Hamşenli" or "Hemshinli", a kind of proud mountain self, gradually differentiated from the outside world, took shape within them.

Most of the "Hamshen" differed from the rest of the Armenians in almost nothing, mostly speaking Turkish badly, some could not speak at all.

Some of them spoke a mixture of Turkish and Armenian.

Some of the "half and half" had Armenian name and surname.

When asked: "What nationality are you from?"

They gave the answer "I am Islam", which did not give any information about their nationality.

There were also Christians among them, they also have old churches in their villages, but they did not have priests

The fact that the names of places, tree and plant varieties remained in ancient Armenian was a unique situation for Hemşin.
The most fertile valleys of the Kazan continued to be called Yeğnovit (Yuğhovit) and Balovit (Balhovit) by the name of the streams passing through

The Hamshens, who live in a few settlements today, are one of the oldest people of the Eastern Black Sea Region.

The people of this region do not consider themselves from Rize and seem to completely isolate themselves from the province.
When asked they answer "from Hemshin"

East Hemshinli language differs from village to village and at least two Homshetsma dialect exist.
Many terms are borrowed from Turkish and Laz

The Western Hemshinli is generally evaluated in the Trabzon-Rize dialects; but has its own specific differences,

Many terms are borrowed from Turkish, Laz & Greek

The Armenian dialect of the Hamshen people of the Black Sea is one of the 18 languages under the threat of disappearance in Turkey, according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in danger

https://news.am/eng/news/466895.html

Hemshin peoples are well known for their baking, tea growing, 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 the Eastern group)

or the Hamshna-Zurna (Hamsheni zurna) (for the Northern group).

Music?
Did you say Music?
You promised us Music, where is it?

See this live version and the dance, so much energy.

And so many similarities with Greek Pontian Kotsari and Serra dances

I hope you enjoyed it as much as these German tourists enjoyed it live on a boat trip at Constantinople.

Ok, we get it, this Armenian song is Great, is this the only one?

Of course not.

Hamshen Armenian singer Aydogan Topal sings mainly in the Hamshen dialect and thinks that it's possible to preserve one's own language and culture through music.

In the 20th century, an unknown number of Armenians living in the mountainous region of Tunceli (Dersim) had converted to Alevism.

During the Armenian Genocide, many of the Armenians in the region were saved by their Kurdish neighbors.

Crypto-Armenian families in Turkey

I will end this thread with a video that gave chills and HOPE.

The Hellenic Pontiac Youth in massive numbers dancing to traditional Pontian Music.

Giving honor to their ancestors the came from the same places that the Armenian Hemshin peoples live today.
/end