Found this from and Armenian Muslim

[Joseph]

I personally know 2 Hamshen families from turkey. They have converted to Christianity and always go to the Armenian Church. I also know 1 Hamshen family from Abkhazia but they were already Christians.

I'm going to pick up Simonian's book when it comes out. Seems like the Krasnodar Hamshens and Abkhazia Hamshens are already Christian. The Turkish Hamshen are entirely Muslim

[Joseph]

th FESTIVAL OF CULTURE OF ARMENIANS OF HAMSHEN TO BE HELD IN KUBAN

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Mar 06 2006

KRASNODAR, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The 7th traditional
festival of culture of Armenians of Hamshen "Sound the Hamshen Zurna"
(a kind of clarinet) will be held in Kuban. In the current year the
event will be held on March 19, in the village of Shahumian, Tuapse
region, Krasnodar territory, that was the center of the Armenian
Administrative region included in the Krasnodar territory until the
August of 1953. As the newspaper of the Armenians in Russia "Yerkramas"
(territory) informs, Armenian creative groups and performers from
different regions of the Krasnodar territory and the Republic
of Armenia will take part in the festival. The organizers of the
festival are the Lazarev Center of National Cultures, the Department
of Culture of the Lazarev region of the city of Sochi, and the rural
administration of the Shahumian village. The Armenians of Hamshen make
the majority of the Armenian population on the coast of the Krasnodar
territory and also in a number of regions of Kuban and Adigei. There
are emigrants from the region of Hamshen in the Western Armenia
(formerly in the territory of Turkey), who migrated to Kuban in middle
of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century after the
Armenian Genocide in Turkey. According to the data of the experts,
nearly 250 thousand Armenians of Hamshen compactly live in Kuban,
Adigei and Abkhazia, and according to the data of different sources,
from 700 thousand to half million Islamized Armenians of Hamshen live
in the territory of Turkey within the limits of traditional living.

[maral_m79]

CD with Songs Having Lyrics in Hamshen Dialect of Armenian Language Released in Krasn

CD with Songs Having Lyrics in Hamshen Dialect of Armenian Language Released in Krasnodar

11.03.2006 22:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ First Hamshenian CD, which was released in the Krasnodar Territory, has collected together most popular musical compositions, performed in the Hamshen dialect of the Armenian language, reported the Yerkramas, the newspaper of Armenians of Russia. Compositions are performed by Caravan band with organizational support of Armenian Hamshen Scientific, Information and Cultural Center and material assistance of local philanthropists.

In 2006 Hamshen Scientific, Information and Cultural Center plans urgent research of the regions, where Hamshen Armenians live, working out the structure of Hamshen Encyclopedia, publishing scientific bulletins on issues of Hamshen Armenians, forming a web-site of the organization, forming ideas and script for a documentary, issuing Hamshen library book series, creation of Hamshen folklore theater, organization of all-Hamshen cultural festival, etc. According to experts, up to 250 thousand Hamshen Armenians compactly live in Kuban, Adygeya and Abkhazia. They come from Hamshen region of Western Armenia (now territory of Turkey). They moved to Kuban in the middle of the XIX century and early XX century after the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. They speak a special – Hamshen –dialect of the Armenian language.

[Gavur]

Armenians By Choice

http://www.geocities.com/cryptoarmenians/Abc.html

Immigrants from Turkey Rediscover their Heritage

David Zenian

Life is full of defining moments, and for Haig Aramian and Vrej Keusseian, the choice is between maintaining their national identity or letting the "good life" overwhelm their heritage. "In Sweden, like everywhere else in Europe these days, it is easy not to live as an Armenian," Aramian explained. "I have asked myself why do I want to be an Armenian. Because in my case, I was not even raised as one." Freedom of choice often drives people to assimilate, but not for emigrŽs Haig Aramian or Vrej Keusseian, who were both born deep inside Turkey and had little or no contact with other Armenians well into their early adult lives.

Aramian was born in the predominantly Kurdish city of Adana in southeastern Turkey. He was called Suleiman Farouk. As far as he knew, there were no Armenians in Adana, but his grandmother repeatedly reminded him as a child that "you are stubborn...you have Armenian blood in your veins." "For a long time I did not know what that meant, but my grandmother never stopped reminding me of our roots."

It took many years for Aramian to understand what she meant, to learn of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and how thousands of Armenian families lost their identities when they were assimilated into the Turkish and local Kurdish societies. "Countless thousands of others also disappeared and became Kurds," Aramian said. In western Europe today, many so-called Kurdish Armenians live in France, Holland and Belgium, re-discovering their heritage and religion.

Aramian's first contact with Armenians was in Syria after leaving Adana in search of a better life. "I was curious about my grandmother's repeated remarks. A Kurdish friend once told me there were Armenians in Marash. I went there in 1978 but did not find anyone. I kept looking until I found an Armenian church in Damascus in 1983 and approached the parish priest. We had a long talk, in Turkish of course, and the more I listened about the fate of Genocide survivors who stayed behind in Turkey and especially in Anatolia, the more I understood how my family was one of those lost Armenians.

"Deep inside I always felt I was different. I could have remained a Kurd, but I decided otherwise. You might call me a true Armenian by choice," he said. Over the next two years before emigrating to Sweden in 1985, he was baptized in the Armenian church in Damascus, changed his name from Suleiman Farouk to Haig Aramian and began the journey to a new future as a Swedish Armenian.

He married in Stockholm to an Armenian immigrant from Diarbekir, named his children Massis, who is nine years old now, and Ani, who is seven, and submerged himself into the Armenian life of Stockholm. First it was the language, then the culture and traditions, followed by a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. But even that was not enough. "I had missed out on so much, I wanted my children to grow up knowing who they were," Aramian said during a recent interview. "My children now speak better Armenian than I do."

Twice in the past three years, Haig Aramian has taken his son to Armenia, but not just to see the sights. On his first two month visit, Haig took his son to a summer camp in Dzaghgadzor, and then to Karabakh. I did all this on my own. I had no friends there but I had to show my son what Armenia was all about.

"I wanted him to be proud of his Armenian heritage along with his Swedish homeland. I owe this much to my late grandmother," he said in broken Armenian, often mixed with a few words of Swedish and a lot more of Turkish, the stronger of his several languages.

Aramian, who is a cook at a Swedish catering company, is very involved with community life and in his spare time collects Armenian artifacts like rugs, old coins and rare books. His one bedroom apartment is decorated with items he has brought back from Armenia.

"Next time you visit Sweden, I will be fluent in Armenian," he said. "My father and mother still live in Adana and they know what I have done and they agree with me. My brother, who moved to Sweden a few years ago, has also changed his old name and he is now Aram," he said.

Like Haig Aramian, Vrej Keusseian is also busy making up for time lost. Keusseian, who is 46 years old and has lived in Sweden for the past 23 years, saw the Armenian alphabet for the first time in his life in 1974 at a public library in Germany.

"I was born in a small predominantly Assyrian village near Merdin in Turkey. We knew we were ethnic Armenians, but unfortunately, we were not accepted by the Armenian community in Istanbul. The several people my father tried to talk to were always suspicious of our real heritage," Vrej said during a family gathering at his apartment in VŠsteras, a small town 12 miles east of Stockholm. His good grades in high school qualified him for a scholarship in Germany, but after a few years, he moved to Sweden as a "refugee" because returning to Turkey would have meant serving in the army. "I arrived in 1977, and believe me, the first Armenian I met in Sweden was not until 1987," he said.

Keusseian, who is now an elementary school Turkish and Kurdish language teacher and interpreter, has turned his life around, coming a long way since seeing the Armenian alphabet for the first time in Germany. He has taught himself the Armenian language, and in his spare time teaches the children of new Armenian immigrants and leads the Ararat Armenian Cultural Association in VŠsteras.

[Joseph]

http://www.geocities.com/cryptoarmenians/Abc.html
Immigrants from Turkey Rediscover their Heritage

David Zenian

Life is full of defining moments, and for Haig Aramian and Vrej Keusseian, the choice is between maintaining their national identity or letting the "good life" overwhelm their heritage. "In Sweden, like everywhere else in Europe these days, it is easy not to live as an Armenian," Aramian explained. "I have asked myself why do I want to be an Armenian. Because in my case, I was not even raised as one." Freedom of choice often drives people to assimilate, but not for emigrZ<caron>s Haig Aramian or Vrej Keusseian, who were both born deep inside Turkey and had little or no contact with other Armenians well into their early adult lives.

Aramian was born in the predominantly Kurdish city of Adana in southeastern Turkey. He was called Suleiman Farouk. As far as he knew, there were no Armenians in Adana, but his grandmother repeatedly reminded him as a child that "you are stubborn...you have Armenian blood in your veins." "For a long time I did not know what that meant, but my grandmother never stopped reminding me of our roots."

It took many years for Aramian to understand what she meant, to learn of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and how thousands of Armenian families lost their identities when they were assimilated into the Turkish and local Kurdish societies. "Countless thousands of others also disappeared and became Kurds," Aramian said. In western Europe today, many so-called Kurdish Armenians live in France, Holland and Belgium, re-discovering their heritage and religion.

Aramian's first contact with Armenians was in Syria after leaving Adana in search of a better life. "I was curious about my grandmother's repeated remarks. A Kurdish friend once told me there were Armenians in Marash. I went there in 1978 but did not find anyone. I kept looking until I found an Armenian church in Damascus in 1983 and approached the parish priest. We had a long talk, in Turkish of course, and the more I listened about the fate of Genocide survivors who stayed behind in Turkey and especially in Anatolia, the more I understood how my family was one of those lost Armenians.

"Deep inside I always felt I was different. I could have remained a Kurd, but I decided otherwise. You might call me a true Armenian by choice," he said. Over the next two years before emigrating to Sweden in 1985, he was baptized in the Armenian church in Damascus, changed his name from Suleiman Farouk to Haig Aramian and began the journey to a new future as a Swedish Armenian.

He married in Stockholm to an Armenian immigrant from Diarbekir, named his children Massis, who is nine years old now, and Ani, who is seven, and submerged himself into the Armenian life of Stockholm. First it was the language, then the culture and traditions, followed by a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. But even that was not enough. "I had missed out on so much, I wanted my children to grow up knowing who they were," Aramian said during a recent interview. "My children now speak better Armenian than I do."

Twice in the past three years, Haig Aramian has taken his son to Armenia, but not just to see the sights. On his first two month visit, Haig took his son to a summer camp in Dzaghgadzor, and then to Karabakh. I did all this on my own. I had no friends there but I had to show my son what Armenia was all about.

"I wanted him to be proud of his Armenian heritage along with his Swedish homeland. I owe this much to my late grandmother," he said in broken Armenian, often mixed with a few words of Swedish and a lot more of Turkish, the stronger of his several languages.

Aramian, who is a cook at a Swedish catering company, is very involved with community life and in his spare time collects Armenian artifacts like rugs, old coins and rare books. His one bedroom apartment is decorated with items he has brought back from Armenia.

"Next time you visit Sweden, I will be fluent in Armenian," he said. "My father and mother still live in Adana and they know what I have done and they agree with me. My brother, who moved to Sweden a few years ago, has also changed his old name and he is now Aram," he said.

Like Haig Aramian, Vrej Keusseian is also busy making up for time lost. Keusseian, who is 46 years old and has lived in Sweden for the past 23 years, saw the Armenian alphabet for the first time in his life in 1974 at a public library in Germany.

"I was born in a small predominantly Assyrian village near Merdin in Turkey. We knew we were ethnic Armenians, but unfortunately, we were not accepted by the Armenian community in Istanbul. The several people my father tried to talk to were always suspicious of our real heritage," Vrej said during a family gathering at his apartment in VS<caron>steras, a small town 12 miles east of Stockholm. His good grades in high school qualified him for a scholarship in Germany, but after a few years, he moved to Sweden as a "refugee" because returning to Turkey would have meant serving in the army. "I arrived in 1977, and believe me, the first Armenian I met in Sweden was not until 1987," he said.

Keusseian, who is now an elementary school Turkish and Kurdish language teacher and interpreter, has turned his life around, coming a long way since seeing the Armenian alphabet for the first time in Germany. He has taught himself the Armenian language, and in his spare time teaches the children of new Armenian immigrants and leads the Ararat Armenian Cultural Association in VS<caron>steras.

Excellent. I hope more Armenians discover their roots and have the courage to seperate themselves from the Kurds and begin new lives. In Syria, close to the Turkish border some of the Bedouin tribesen have Armenian blood. I know it won't happen but it would be nice if someday they embraced their Armenian roots and became Christian again. God Willing.

[bell-the-cat]

You're welcome. I hope the one day we can have some communication with the Hamshin and bring then back to our church.

The Hemshinli are intelligent enough not to give a damn about religion, be it Islam or Christianity.

[bell-the-cat]

you know people of that area are quite funny, and I began to make fun of him, but he was really angery.

Yes, they are notoriously easy to offend.

Do you remember some years ago a TV presenter was forced to flee abroad when he was sent death threats and his TV station was shot at, all after telling a joke about some Laz.

How did it go, something like this, yes?

Father and his teenage son make a trip to Trabzon,. While the father goes to the market the son makes a visit to one of the natashas.
A few weeks later, he mentions it to his father.
"What!" exclaims the father. "How could you have done such an immoral thing? You probably will have got AIDs. And you will have given it to your sister, and she will have given it to me, and I will have given it to your mother, so by now our whole village will have it! How could we have brought you up to commit such an immoral thing!"

[Gavur]

Roarrr!