The Hay Horoms in the Whirlpool of the Massacres of Christians in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The Orthodox Armenians or so-called Hay Horoms (Armenian Romans) in the late 19th – early 20th centuries were compactly settled in Western Armenia, namely in the villages of Vank, Dzorak, Shrzu and Musheghka in Akn district, in the villages of Mamsa, Sedrka and Khenderkik in Chemishkatsag district, as well as in the village of Hoghus in Kamakh region. Apart from this, the migrants from Akn and Hoghus resided in the villages of Ortakyöy, Khudi and in other places of Izmit province (historical Bithynia). During the Hamidian massacres in 1895-1896 the Orthodox Armenians did not suffer great loss. However, after these events, the process of Hellenization started to strengthen among the Hay Horoms, so that in the early 20th century they were no longer considered as Orthodox Armenians, but Armenian-speaking Greeks. For this reason they avoided the horrors of the Armenian Genocide except the Hoghus village whose habitants left their homeland to avoid being deported. Later the survived villagers immigrated to Greece. In the summer of 1920 the Hay Horoms of the Izmit province, approximately 10,000 people, were perished and their villages were destroyed. As regards the few Orthodox Armenians of Akn and Chemishkatsag regions, according to the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) they emigrated from Turkey to Greece with the Greek population of Asia Minor.