Beste Yıldırım 09.01.

2015
Hist.59Y.01 – Sp. Tp. Christian Populations of the Ottoman Empire I
Instructor: Merih EROL

RESEARCH PAPER
A Historical Research on the Region of Hemşin in the Ottomans’ Period
between the Late 15th and the Late 19th Century:
Conversion & Crypto-Christianity
I.) Introduction:

Hemshin as a geographical region is very special and peculiar because of its complex
history and ethnicity of population. The people of this region maintained their distinct identity
within the framework of conversion, its social, cultural (language, traditions, customs),
political, economic, ideological, and psychological dimensions. On the subject of ethnicity,
their historical backgrounds as Armenians, ethnic roots, migrations, cross-cultural
relationships between Muslims, Lazs, Turks, and Georgians come true the question of cultural
survival and the degree of assimilation for the people of this region. Within this interaction,
how were they represented in their environments and also in state records? What are the
components which form their own whole body of cultural structure?

As two breaking points, the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the conquest of
Trebizond in 1461, it can be said that the former has a big importance as a triggering event for
conversions, the latter creates a remarkable influence on both the local region of Hemshin and
the peripheral region of the Black Sea for the non-Muslim population of the Ottoman Empire
in the issue of Islamization. Especially in the one hand, regarding conversion, there are some
questions about the phenomena of the transition into Islam with some determinable reasons
such as social, economic and political concerns. Especially, on the subject of periodization,
what happened in the late 15th century or in the 16th century as a beginning process of the
Islamization in this region? One of my aims is to offer some different approaches about the
most correct date/period of the Islamization in the region of Hemshin with their sources.
Regarding this, I would like to mention what kind of specific changes were experienced
during the Ottoman rule in the region of Hemshin as I could catch from the records (The
records of land registers of Trebizond -Tapu Tahrir defterleri- from the years of 1481, 1515,
1530, and 1554) with the help of my secondary sources in order to research about

1
demographic changes of the region. On the other hand, one of my other aims is questioning a
special case for the region of Hemshin that is remaining their Christian religion which is
associated with under the concept of Cripto-Christianity. I would like to evaluate the issue of
Cripto-Christianity as a kind of religious and cultural continuation with some signs that I will
mention in the following sections. However, within this complex and blurred atmosphere
where can we observe some signs of religious assimilation with the framework conversion
and some changings in their social and political conditions? As related to this topic, I would
like to consider some influential statesmen of Hemshin origin and their stories in the 19th
century because the role of their Islamized identity is decisive for their rising status in the
state.

Finally, I found some cases from especially the 19th century in the archive. The earlier
documents are highly related to population levels of the Muslims and non-Muslims in
Hemshin. However, I found another document from the beginning of the 20th century which
has a different phrase for the people of this region apart from “the people in Hemshin” that is
“converted from Armenian”.1 In fact, this phrase certainly reflects a conscious from the side
of the state. Also, due to the local, micro and specific features of the documents, I would like
to give this event as an example to associate it with my main research interest about this paper.

Actually, my main question for this research paper is related both political and religious
concerns: “How did change the social, political, cultural and religious conditions of a local
community/society under a new rule? What kind of changings and new policies were applied
by the state, and were experienced by the people of this region at the same time? As we know
from the previous articles during our course in the issue of Islamization in Balkans for
example, in the region of Hemshin and its close environment what kind of transformations
were emerged due to the state policies (How can we interpret the signs of resettlement,
repopulation, migration, and so on)? How did these transformations reflect to the social lives
of the people of Hemshin? As it can be seen that I have many questions about this topic, for
this reason collecting the answers of these questions in a well-constructed body of research
will be a really compelling challenge for me. Despite this difficulty, I will be so eager and

1
28/C/1331 (Mayıs/Haziran 1913), Dosya No: 116 Gömlek: 65 Fon: DH. İD..:
“Trabzon vilayeti Hopa kazasındaki bazı köylerde bulunan ve Hemşin denilen Ermeni'den dönme
Müslümanlar'ın oraya gidecek bir misyonerden etkilenmeleri muhtemel olduğundan, mahalli hükümetçe
hemşinlerin irşadı gerektiği.”

2
happy if I would make a very little contribution to this topic with my re-consideration about
the secondary literature of Hemshin’s history which has cornerstone studies.

II.) Changing the Way: Conversion under the Ottoman Rule

Even though there is a debate about the ethnic origin of the people of Hemshin, they were
mainly accepted with their Armenian origin in the historical studies. Apart from this situation,
there is a reality that is they were Christian and converted to Islam with various social,
economic, and political factors which could be observed from many evidences as state
registers about demography, local admisintration and taxes under the Ottoman rule.

a.) Rethinking the Periodization and the Causes of the Conversion

In this part the main question is “When did the Armenian and Christian residents of Hemshin
become Muslim?” There are different theories about the Islamicization of the people in the
region of Hemshin. Erhan Ersay summarizes some different approaches in his article:
According to Meeker and Anthony Bryer, they were converted to Islam at the beginning of
the 15th century. Moreover, Minas Bıjışkyan and Levon Haçikyan asserts that this conversion
happened in the 17th century.2 Between these ideas there is a gap about what happened in the
16th century. There is a hypothesis about the interval between the late 15th and the 16th century
by Heath Lowry3. According to this claim, the policy of Islamization could start with the 16th
century because before this period the region of Hemshin and its surrounding were under the
rule and later the influence of the Byzantine Empire. Thus, it is asserted that within such an
atmosphere of the late 15th century together with the conquest beginning the process of the
Islamization in a mass is a difficult thing. For this reason, according to Lowry the mid 16th
century could be a more suitable period in order to determine the signs of Islamization process
from the increased numbers of the Muslims in different mahalles of Hemshin which are given
in both the detailed and general tax registers (mufassal tahrir defterleri) of the years 1523,
1553, and 1583 and also in many charts which were accomplished by him in the book.

2
ERSOY, Erhan G., “The Hemshin People, Ethnic Identity, Beliefs and Yayla Festivals in Çamlıhemşin” in The
Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.324 (From Meeker (1971),
p.341; Bryer, ‘Greeks and Türkmens: The Pontic Exception’ (1975), p.142; Haçikyan (1996), pp.37-38;
Bıjışkyan, ‘Karadeniz Kıyıları Tarih ve Coğrafyası’ (1969), pp.64-65).
3
LOWRY, Heath W. The Islamization & Turkification of the City of Trabzon (Trebizond), 1461-1583.

3
 Another hypothesis is about a later date than the claim of Lowry for this process. Hovann
Simonian asserts that the 16th century is an early date for this process because the 1486 and
1515 registers demonstrate the very recent nature of the conquest. 4 The most important
statement of him is that rather than fixing a clear date for this process, it can be stated that it
happened and continued between the 16th and the 18th centuries. He offers some evidences to
determine this interval. Firstly, according to the Ottoman registers, until the date of 1620 the
region had a wide Christian population, and after this date the amount of collected jizya/poll
tax (cizye) tax started to decreased.5 Secondly, the first mosque in the district of Hemshin
perhaps which was converted from a church was constructed in 1640 under the reign of the
Sultan İbrahim (1640-1648) according to a warrant (berat)6.

In order to understand the the development of the conversion among Hamshen Armenians
with Islamicization, it is necessary to look at the religious, economic, political and social
conditions of the 17th century because there are some important signs which could be seen as
the reasons of the conversion to Islam for these people. Firstly, the decline of the Armenian
Apostolic church constructs the religious part of the conversion’s skeleton. According to
Simonian, the decline of the Armenian Church may have been paralleled by the progression
of Islam in the district of Hemshin from as early as the 1640s on. 7 Also, Speros Vryonis
points to the decline of the Byzantine Church as one of the main causes of the passage to
Islam of the Greek population of Anatolia.8 Simonian asserts that a similar process could have
taken place in the 17th century Hemshin. With the absence of spiritual leaders due to the
decline of the Armenian Apostolic church, Hamshen Armenians may have been more open to
the pressure or temptation of conversion.9

4
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Prelude to Islamicization” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the
Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.31.
5
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.52.
6
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.54 (From Veysel Atacan and Serdar Bekar,
Rize Hemşin Yöresi Osmanlı Mezar Taşları ve Kitabeleri and Haşim Karpuz, Rize).
7
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.54.
8
VRYONİS, Speros; The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from
the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century, p.348-350.
9
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.53.

4
 Secondly, as related to both political and economic conditions the 17th century was a
difficult time for the Ottoman Empire because of the signs of decline which is also one of the
most debated issues in the Ottoman Historiography as “The Decline Paradigm”. However, it
is clear that the demands of the budget (due to the need of the state to finance costly military
campaigns, the salaries of the Janissaries and as well as other state expenditures about the
court for example) usually reflects to increasing taxes in the form of Jizya, land tax (haraç)
and tithe (ispenç). In this issue Simonian refers to Inchichian because he states that fiscal
oppression with increased taxes became a reason for the conversion Hamshen Armenians. 10
Actually, this case is a familiar condition which can be observed during history because as we
have seen in many examples such as in the articles of D. Hupchick11, A. Mikov12, and N.
Moacanin13it can be said that fiscal and economic concerns are very arbiter for conversion to
Islam under the Islamic rule.

Thirdly, in addition to the increased taxation, it can be said that there was a negative
attitude towards the non-Muslim populations in the mid 17th century especially under the
reign of Sultan Mehmed IV (1648-1687) because his reign became influential for conversions
of Armenians to escape from becoming a target board for both religious pressure and also
social oppression. As we read in the book of Marc Baer, the term of ghaza and the identity of
ghazi gained a religious meaning instead of its previous meaning during the formation phase
of the Ottoman Empire. With the increased piety in the period of Sultan Mehmed IV that was
both influenced by the Sultan himself, his inner circle in the court and also with Kadızadeli
movement, within the framework of ghaza the concepts of war and religion were coalescing.14
In such an atmosphere it can be interpreted that an increased intolerance towards the Christian
minorities and other non-Muslims became another reason for conversion. On this subject,
Simonian refers to Anthony Bryer, this rising intolerance is seen with the persecution of

10
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.56 (From Inchichian (1806), p.396.).
11
HUPCHICK, D.“Seventeenth Century Bulgarian Pomaks: Forced or Voluntary Converts to Islam?” in Society
in Change: Studies in Honor of Bela K. Kiraly (New York: 1983), 305-314.
12
MIKOV, Anton., Conversion to Islam in the Balkans – Kisve Bahası Petitions and Ottoman Social Life, 1670-
1730 (2004).
13
MOACANIN, Nenad., “The Poll-Tax and population in the Ottoman Balkans”, in Archaeology, anthropology,
and heritage in the Balkans and Anatolia, 77-89.
14
BAER, Marc David. Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe, pp. 3-24.

5
Pontic Greeks during 1650s and 1660s. 15 Although we do not clearly know the degree of
religious persecutions towards the Hamshen Armenians and its influence on their conversions
according to Simonian, at least we can estimate the general atmosphere of the period,
therefore it had become surely effective for the all non-Muslims as a threat for their security
and peace.

Fourthly, immediately after the period of Mehmed IV between the years of 1690-1700 the
new actors came to the stage to show intolerance towards again the Christians and this case
had continued during the 18th century. These new actors were derebeys who known as the
Tımar holders. Especially in the case of Pontos and its environment, Simoniasn mentions that
both Greeks and Armenians were victims of the intolerance which was applied by not the
state this time, by valley lords as related to the weakening of central government in
Anatolia. 16 Moreover, as stated by Bryer, it can be observed that under the rule of the
derebeys especially the Christian villagers were pulled dawn to a position of serfdom.
Additionally, the Armenian population of Trebizond encountered with a climate of anarchy by
the pashas of Trebizond.17 All of these reasons reduced the number of Armenian population
of with migration to Karadere-the Western part of the Sürmene district in Trebizond- (and
from there to other regions of the Black Sea such as Ordu, Çrşamba, Ünye, Sinop and
Adapazarı) according to Serap Demir 18 , and also decreased the number of the Christian
population of Hemshin by their remaining in the the region with conversion to Islam as we
can see with the increasing number of the Muslim population in the state registers. On the
subject of outmigration, as Serap Demir, I followed the way of Simonian because he adds
some other places to these regions that are mentioned by Demir. Simonian points the region
of Bayburt as a second migration wave after and from Karadere. 19 By being relevant to this
issue, Simonian claims that the emergence of the derebeys because of their Muslim
intolerance against Hamshen Armenians became the primary reason for the later period of the

15
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.57 (Bryer (1970), p.43).
16
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.58.
17
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.58 (Bryer (1970), pp.43-45).
18
DEMİR, Serap. “Hemşin’de Toplu Din Değiştirme” in the Conference of “Müslümanlaş(tırıl)mış Ermeniler”
by Hrant Dink Foundation, Bogazici University and MalatyaHAY, November 2-4, 2013.
19
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.62.

6
Islamicization despite some traces which are about the presence of some persecutions prior to
the rise of the derebeys. 20 In fact, the region of Karadere and some other places that had
became a new shelter for Hamshen Armenians to remain their religion as a secret and also to
attempt for reverting to Christianity. 21 I am going to mention this issue in the following
paragraphs of the section of Crypto-Christianity.

b.) Changing Dimensions with Conversion

Together with time and their new Islamicized idenity some changes came true in the
Ottoman political and religious élites among the Hemshin from the mid 19th century to
192622. In this article, Toumarkine firstly mentions the fall of the derebeys wth the date of
1830 in the valleys of Hemshin, as well as most of the eastern coastal areas of the Black Sea.
He associates their falls with an opportunity for the Hemshin to gain a chance for social
mobility in their administrative, religious and civil careers.23

I would like to start with the administrative part of this puzzle. As stated by Toumarkine24,
Damad Mehmed Ali Pasha Zadeler – also known as Hemshinlizadeler (the descendants of the
Hemshinli) was the just single Hemshin family to serve the state administration. If we look at
a brief history of this family, our main actor is Mehmed Ali Pasha (1813-1868) who was born
in Hemshin and died in Istanbul. He started to have a career in the Palace with the help of the
Grand-Admiral of the Ottoman fleet (Ahmed Pasha Pabuççuzade), then he was appointed to
the office of Grand-Vizier (sadrazam). In 1845, he married a daughter of the Sultan Mahmud
II. The grandfather of Mehmed Ali Pasha, Haci Ali Agha, was a hazelnut dealer. Also, the
father of Mehmed Ali Pasha, Hacı Ömer Agha, was appointed Galata Başağası of the
imperial palace of Galata. All this historical data that I acquiered by the way of this article
shows me that between these three generations there is a continuity towards rising their status
because there is an upward mobility from a merchant grandfather who had the titles of both

20
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp. 58-59.
21
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp.74-76
22
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp.100-
123.
23
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.102.
24
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp.102-3.

7
“hacı” and “agha” to a statesmen father with the same titles and from him to a grand-vizier
son who was the son-in-law of the sultan at the same time. As it can be seen that they were
both Ottomanized and Islamicized.

The second source of career for the Hemshin is observed under the title of ulema as a
traditional form of social mobility according to the same article. 25 As stated in the Hemshin
nahiye there were twenty-one administrative files on ulemas, and especially there were many
villages in this nahiye which had a significant role to recruit ulemas.26 Moreover, Toumarkine
uses the data of Trabzon Vilayeti Salnamesi of 1869-1875 in order to show the relationship
between the demographic condition of the Hemshin nahiye and the circle of medrese
(religious school) and ulemas as religious education. According to Salname of 1869, “There
was in the nahiye of Hemshin only one medrese with one teacher (müderris) and fifteen
pupils, but there were fifteen mosques and forty small mosques (mescits). The presence of a
church and two priests caring for the spiritual needs of twenty-four Armenian households with
eighty-eight individual should be noted, while Muslim counted 1,843 households with 5,869
individuals. From 1870 to 1875 period there were twenty-three Armenian households with
104 individuals against 1,561 Muslim households.”27 Furthermore, on the subject of social
status of the ulemas, he analyzes the surnames of the ulemas, and states that they were from
the prominent Hemshinli familiees which had landowners, merchants and artisans. 28
Additionaly, Hemshin was the first but not the last stop for the people who wanted to become
among the circle of ulema. After they came to Istanbul, they continued their education in the
medreses of the mosques of Fatih, Bayazit and Süleymaniye. Regarding this, Toumarkine
mentions some names such as Ahmed Hamdi Efendi, Yusuf Talat Efendi, Edhem Efendi,
Ahmed Midhat Efendi of Balahor who became teachers at these mosques. 29 Also, many
Hemshinli ulemas were successfully promoted in a school which is Mekteb-i Nüvvab between

25
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp.105-6.
26
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.107.
27
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, pp.107-8.
28
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.108.
29
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.110.

8
1856 and 1915. 30 As another remkarkable point about the late 19th century in addition to
religious education in the medreses, new modern schools started to emerged as a reflection the
Tanzimat period, for example there were two native names of Hemshin- Mehmed Ali and Ali
Gaalib graduated from the Mülkiye (the School of Public Administration)- founded in 1876 in
the last quarter of the 19th century.31

III.) Remaining Identity as A Secret: Crypto-Christianity

During the history of Hemshin after the Ottoman conquest we saw two directions on the
road of Islamicization. One of them is conversion to Islam and the other is crypto-Christianity
as a response to the process of Islamicization. Before the course of “Sp. Tp. Christian
Populations of the Ottoman Empire I”, I had no acquaintance with this notable presence of the
Crypto-Christian population in the Ottoman Empire, and this condition is one of my reasons
to choose this topic as a new gain.

Reinkowksi defines the term of crypto-religious as “designating the status of people

whose real religious views and practices are not in accordance with their official religious
affiliation and who frequently may seek to hide this fact from the larger public.”32Also, he
explains the most general definition of a crypto-Christian as “a Christian who has converted
to Islam, or whose ancestors have converted to Islam, but who continues to secretly adhere to
his original religion, whether in a rather unconscious continuation of religious practices or in
the form of a conscious loyalty to the familiar religion.” 33 As stated by Reinkowski the
crypto-Christians in the Ottoman Empire were mainly seen on Cyprus and Crete, in Albania
and Kosovo, Macedonia and North East Anatolia, the Aegean island group of the Dodecanes,
Bulgaria and Bosnia.34 After this general and rewarding introduction for this section of the
paper, if I turn to my focal point, Hemshin, as a part of the North East Anatolia, I would like
to evaluate some effective factors which direct the people to choose the way of becoming

30
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.111.
31
TOUMARKINE, Alexandre. “Ottoman Political and Religious élites among the Hemshin: from the mid 19th
century to 1926” in The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.114.
32
REİNKOWSKİ M.; “Hidden Believers, Hidden Apostates: The Phenomenon of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-
Christians in the Middle-East”, p.409.
33
REİNKOWSKİ M.; “Hidden Believers, Hidden Apostates: The Phenomenon of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-
Christians in the Middle-East”, p.413.
34
REİNKOWSKİ M.; “Hidden Believers, Hidden Apostates: The Phenomenon of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-
Christians in the Middle-East”, p.409.

9
crypto-Christian, and later I am going to mention the religious and cultural signs of crypto-
Christianity in the region of Hemshin and its surroundings.

Religious syncretism became one of the main factors for the emerging phase of the
crypto-Christianity because as we know religions have syncretic elements on the subject of
their beliefs or history. For this reason, this notion of syncretism both became influential in
the existence of this third category, crypto-Christians which known as keskes (Arm. Half-half)
that is mentioned in the article of Simonian 35 or mentioned as “imperfectly converted” by
Serap Demir.36 As related to the notion of syncretism, Reinkowski claims the presence of a
different category about crypto-religion. “In the case of crypto-Jews and crypto-Christians we
are faced with a double formal conversion—from the original religion to Islam, from Islam
back to the original religion. (…) Crypto-Christian groups appear to have done particularly
well in syncretistic surroundings where many religious practices, such as pilgrimages to holy
shrines, could be shared by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.” 37 If we think the case of
Hemshin in this schema, we will see the presence of some cultural and religious traces of their
Armenian past in their new Muslim or Islamicized identities.

In his article Simonian gives place to the study of R. M. Dawkins which is about the
crypto-Christian of Turkey. Acvoording to Dawkins, there are four categories of people in this
issue. In the first group, there are some people “who had converted to Islam through dervish
proselytism and adhered to the syncretism between Christianity and Islam preached by Sufi
brotherhoods.” as we read about Bektashi syncretism with reference to Hasluck 38 in the
article of Faroqhi.39 The second group “comprised people (…) who simply wanted the best
from the both sides, ‘anxious for all that can be got in places and rites may be at hand’.” The
third category consists of “the ‘imperfectly converted’, whose love of their former faith made
it difficult for them to abandon all elements of it, especially in cases of forced conversion.”
Lastly, in the fourth category there are cypto-Christians who “were supposed ‘to believe in

35
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.67.
36
DEMİR, Serap. “Hemşin’de Toplu Din Değiştirme” in the Conference of “Müslümanlaş(tırıl)mış Ermeniler”
by Hrant Dink Foundation, Bogazici University and MalatyaHAY, November 2-4, 2013.
37
REİNKOWSKİ M.; “Hidden Believers, Hidden Apostates: The Phenomenon of Crypto-Jews and Crypto-
Christians in the Middle-East”, p.414.
38
HASLUCK, F. W., Chrstianity and Islam Under the Sultans, ed. Clarendon press, Oxford, 1929.
39
S. Faroqhi, “The Bektashis: A Report on Current Research,” in Bektachiyya ed. A. Popovic and G. Veinstein
(1995)

10
Christianity and hate Islam’.” 40 If we try to put the crypto-Christians of Hemshin in this
framework, Simonian eliminates the first category because there is no Sufi influences in their
case. However, Simonian writes that there is little evidence to determine which category is
more suitable for the conditions of the crypto-Christians of Hemshin among the other three
categories. With this question it is necessary to re-mention the religious and cultural signs of
crypto-Christianity in the region of Hemshin and its surroundings.

The first sign is related to both a religious and at the same time a cultural cult: the festival
of Vardavar (western Armenian Vartavar) 41 which was an ancient Armenian festival with
paganistic beliefs even before the Christianity. 42 Serap Demir mentions the date of this
festival as “after ninety-eight days from the Easter Day” in the conference.43 In his article
Erhan Ersoy refers to the travel accounts of Minas Bıjışkyan from the beginning of the 19th
century. Bıjışkyan writes: “The Muslims of the Hemshin population have preserved their
Christian tradition; in particular, on the day of the Vartavar feast, they all go to church, light
candles and sacrifice animals for the souls of their ancestors.” 44 Simonian defines this
festival as the observation of the Transfiguration of Christ, and he adds that this festival
which reflects the complexity of the religious status of converted Hemshinli with regard to
crypto-Christianity had ar eligious clear content in the early decades of the 19th century.45

After Vartavar, Simonian mentions the second sign of their crypto-Christian identity
which is the continuation of baptism as the most broadly publicized Christian custom kept by
the people of Hemshin until the late 19th century. Simonian refers to Vital Cuinet’s
description of how Hemshinli families – which he called Hamchounlis- kept ‘holy water’

40
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.69 (From Dawkins (1933))
41
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.70.
42
ERSOY, Erhan G., “The Hemshin People, Ethnic Identity, Beliefs and Yayla Festivals in Çamlıhemşin” in
The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.328.
43
DEMİR, Serap. “Hemşin’de Toplu Din Değiştirme” in the Conference of “Müslümanlaş(tırıl)mış Ermeniler”
by Hrant Dink Foundation, Bogazici University and MalatyaHAY, November 2-4, 2013.
44
ERSOY, Erhan G., “The Hemshin People, Ethnic Identity, Beliefs and Yayla Festivals in Çamlıhemşin” in
The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.328 (FromBıjışkyan (1969),
p.63)
45
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.70.

11
preciously to baptize their children in La Turquie d’Asie. 46 Very interestingly Simonian
mentions that Hemshinlis had moved this ritual to their private sphere in the absence of
churches and priests with the help of the accounts of Hemshinli informants.47 Regarding this
in her thesis, Talin Büyükkürkçiyan states that the people of Hemshin “keep to show their
Armenian identities traces and regenerate these features, namely Hemşinli’s by loosing some
of their characteristics still kept their identity by coherency and resistance, finding the
resistance in keeping their language and customs”48 as we saw in the previous paragraphs.

More specificly, Simonian makes a case analysis about crypto-Christianity in Karadere as

related to their escape from the violent conditions and their struggle for reverting to
Christianity among us in there in his article. Serap Demir actually makes a very good
summary of this part belongs to Simonian in the conference: In Karadere they were speaking
Armenian until the 19th century, they had Armenain surnames and respected to the cross. Also,
many women lied to their husbands that “the children had drowned or been taken away by
wild animals” in order to kidnap their children to Trabzon for providing them a suitable
condition to teach and sustain Christianity.49 On the subject of gender, Simonian mentions a
difference between men and women to keep their Christian and Armenian roots. Demir says
with the reference of Simonian that because after the policy of Islamicization speaking
Armenian was prohibited men started to forget Armenian due to their frequent presence on
the social environment. On the contrary, women had an oppourunity to speak Armenian in
their daily lives due to their constant presence in their houses. As parallel with this situation, it
is observed that women could be more loyal to their Christian worships. Furthermore, as
another continuation of Armenian elements Serap Demir talks about the presence of the
double names for instance “Sarkis Ali” in her speech.50

46
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.70 (From Cuinet, vol. 1 (Paris, 1890),
p.121).
47
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.70.
48
BÜYÜKKÜRKCİYAN, Talin; “Hemşinlilerde Unutarak ve Gizlenerek Var Olmak”,p.1.
49
SİMONİAN, Hovann H.; “Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of the 19th century” in The Hemshin:
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey, p.70 (From Haykuni (1895), pp. 242-43.)
50
DEMİR, Serap. “Hemşin’de Toplu Din Değiştirme” in the Conference of “Müslümanlaş(tırıl)mış Ermeniler”
by Hrant Dink Foundation, Bogazici University and MalatyaHAY, November 2-4, 2013.

12
 IV.) Conclusion
In this research paper I have tried to bring a reviewed look at the intersection of
conversion with crypto-Christianity under the lens of a specific region which is Hemshin. Due
to the limitation of words, I have had a difficulty to gather all of my sources that I give in the
bibliography section, and also to use much more numerical data about the demographic
changes in the region that were lengthily investigated by Lowry and some other historians in
order to show the power of the policy of Islamicization with its social, political and economic
factors. However, crypto-Christianity as a restricted and oppressed search for religious
freedom is the most remarkable success of Hemshin’s people in order to resist and subsist as
how they are and have actually. I have wanted to mention this struggle with its all humanistic
sensibilities and examples. I read many past events about their scramble but I could give place
to only a few of them because of the format of the paper. Lastly, this paper and course became
a very fruitful experience for me in order to look closer at the historical conditions of the
Christians with many features under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

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• BÜYÜKKÜRKCİYAN, Talin; “Hemşinlilerde Unutarak ve Gizlenerek Var Olmak”,
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