 Greek Church inHankavan | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 900[1] (2022, census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
| Eastern Orthodox Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Greek diaspora |
| Part ofa series on |
| Greeks |
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Groups by region Modern Greece: Constantinople and Asia Minor: Other regions: Other groups: |
| History of Greece (Ancient ·Byzantine ·Ottoman) |
TheGreeks in Armenia (Armenian:Հույները Հայաստանում,romanized: Huynery Hayastanum;Greek:Έλληνες στην Αρμενία,romanized: Éllines stin Armenía), like the other groups ofCaucasus Greeks such as theGreeks in Georgia, are mainly descendants of thePontic Greeks, who originally lived along the shores of theBlack Sea, in the uplands of thePontic Alps, and other parts of northeasternAnatolia. In their original homelands these Greek communities are calledPontic Greeks andEastern Anatolia Greeks respectively. SeafaringIonian Greeks settled around the southern shores of the Black Sea starting around 800 BC, later expanding to coastal regions of modernRomania,Russia,Bulgaria andUkraine. The Pontic Greeks lived for thousands of years almost isolated from the Greek peninsula, retaining elements of theAncient Greek language and making Pontic Greek unintelligible to most other modernHellenic languages. They were joined in the region by later waves of Greeks in theHellenistic,Roman, andByzantine period, ranging from traders, scholars, churchmen, mercenaries, or refugees from elsewhere inAnatolia or the southernBalkans.
Several villages with a large proportion of ethnic Greek Armenians are found in areas along Armenia's northern border withGeorgia, in the northern part of theLori marz (province). The largest communities can be found inAlaverdi andYerevan,[2] followed byVanadzor,Gyumri,Stepanavan,Hankavan andNoyemberyan. Ethnic Greeks in Armenia numbered around 1,800 to over 4,000.[3] Their numbers have been greatly reduced since the end of the Soviet Union due to emigration for economic reasons to other formerSoviet republics and toGreece. Greeks and Armenians also live together in mixed communities north of the Armenian border in Georgia - but there too numbers have been greatly reduced due to emigration.Yaghdan inLori Province has been described as the last remaining Greek village in Armenia.[4]
Armenia's Greeks, as in the whole ofTranscaucasia, speak thePontic dialect, an extension of theIonic dialect of the ancient Greek language. A certain layer is occupied by the migrants fromTrabzon andKars region in the 19th – 20th century. (endoethnonym: Romeyus). All Armenia's Greeks are fluent in bothArmenian andRussian. The Greek population in Armenia today is about 6,000.[5]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 2,980 | — |
| 1939 | 4,181 | +40.3% |
| 1959 | 4,976 | +19.0% |
| 1970 | 5,690 | +14.3% |
| 1979 | 5,653 | −0.7% |
| 1989 | 4,650 | −17.7% |
| 2011 | 900 | −80.6% |
| 2022 | 364 | −59.6% |
| Sources:[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][1] | ||
| Old Greek Diaspora | |
|---|---|
| New Greek Diaspora | |
| Traditional areas of Greek settlement | |
| Europe | |
| Caucasus | |
| Central Asia | |
| Middle East | |
| Africa | |
| Latin America | |
| Asia-Pacific | |
