Greeks, Hankavan, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2005

When Zarchka at Life Around Me mentioned that she was going off for a break with a friend in Hankavan it got me thinking about a visit I made to the village of the same name with Garo (AKA Christian Garbis) from Notes from Hairenik in May 2005. Not sure if Zarchka will get to see this village, but the reason for my visit was very specific. Hankavan used to be mainly Greek as Garo blogged about way back when.

The village was predominantly inhabited by ethnic Greeks with the exception of a few Azeri families who moved east to Azerbaijan towards the beginning of the Karabagh war. There were once about 80 families living in the village, and of that number only about four remain, leaving a total of 12 people. The place is nearly deserted, and there are no prospects at all for rehabilitation. Government assistance does not reach this village. Although there is electricity no phone lines have been installed, thus residents are forced to go to the neighboring village to call out. There is also no mail service provided.

[…]

The family we met and spoke with is able to leave the village to visit their four children, all of whom live in Greece and are married. The mother, now in her seventies, has gone about 5 times with the money her children sent, and she and her husband plan to move to Greece just as soon as their children are able to obtain citizenship there.

“We know there is no future for us here, and that the only thing to do is to be with our children and grandchildren in Greece. We’ll leave soon enough,” the father told me, who is now 85 years old, but looks 15 years younger.

Unfortunately, for those Greeks that have left Armenia, life is not so simple. As I recall the main problem is that they speak Pontic Greek which makes them different from their ethnic kin in Greece and they are therefore often discriminated against. Factor in a Soviet legacy in terms of mentality and culture and things are doubly hard. No wonder that many leave reluctantly, as Armenia Now reported in 2004.

During Soviet times, Hankavan was home to 120 Greek families, descendents of the six families who founded the village in 1828. The Greeks came to Armenia to work in gold and copper mines. At one time there were about 5,000 Greeks throughout Soviet Armenia.

[…]

In the 1990s almost all the Greeks of Hankavan returned to Greece. Today, after migration and immigration, the Greek community in Hankavan is only about 15 residents.

Seventy-nine-year old Apolstle Chakhirov was among the Greek residents who, in 1992, moved back his native country.

But, like others, Greece didn’t live up to expectations, so he came back to Hankavan just three years later. His family convinced him to give Greece another try. So he moved a second time. And moved back to Armenia a second time, in 2002. He says he has no intention of moving again.

[…]

“Greeks in Greece are not like Armenian Greeks, we don’t like them,” says Natalie. “In Greece we went to Armenian restaurant and our sons were crying under the Armenian music. We will die here in Armenia; we will not go to Greece. But here in Armenia there is nobody who cares about us: neither telephone, nor roads . . .”

[…]

Donara has children in Greece, but says she wants to continue living in Hankavan.

“My blood doesn’t flow in Greece,” she says. “My homeland is Armenia and we got used to that life.”

Anyway, I’ve seen one other predominently Greek village in Armenia in the same situation — i.e. virtually dead — and I think it’s sad. Unfortunately, there are very real fears that in the next decade the Greek community in Armenia will die out, and I think that this is a disgrace. It’s not just a matter of minorities, although that’s my main concern here, but also one of development of Armenia’s regions.

According to the 2001 Census there are just 1,176 citizens of Greek ethnicity living in Armenia. However, that figure is probably inflated given the tendency to count those living and working abroad as still being resident in the country. Anyway, it’s not just a matter of inaction from the Armenian Government. The Greek Embassy here doesn’t seem to be doing much either.

Incidently, there’s also a gorgeous Greek village in Karabakh that I visited with Tom de Waal, Caucasus Editor of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) in 2000. IWPR published an article on the slow demise of Karabakh’s Greeks last year.

Greeks, Hankavan, Kotayk Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2005