Roman Armenians: The Hayhoroms

The history of human presence in Anatolia (considering concrete works like Göbeklitepe) dates back 12,000 years. During this process, many nations, cultures, and beliefs, from the Hattians to the Hittites, from the Ionians to the Persians, have left their mark on these lands. Paganism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, and many other religions and sects have existed in these lands with their various colors. As a natural consequence of this situation, diversity has come to the forefront as one of the most fundamental characteristics of Anatolian lands. With the "uniformizing" ideas and events of the 19th century, first with the rebellion in Morea and then with the war in Crimea, a large Muslim population was driven to the Balkans and Anatolia, followed by a great Circassian exile from the Caucasus, resulting in forced migration to Anatolia.

It is possible to trace what happened to the Circassians even in the novels of the Tanzimat period. Behind the fact that the slaves in the novels were always a "Circassian girl" lies a great tragedy. Subsequent events resulted in hundreds of thousands of Muslims from various ethnic groups in the Balkans being uprooted from their homes in as short a time as 15 days. After signs appeared that a process similar to those experienced in the Caucasus and the Balkans would sprout in Anatolia, both in the discourses of European states and as a result of social frictions; first, the events of 1915 took place, then mutual forced migration was implemented with the Turkish-Greek population exchange. Since the correctness or incorrectness of these decisions taken by the states is not the subject of this article, the political or humanitarian dimension of the matter will not be discussed at all.

Before all this fight and noise, there was a very colorful and rich sociological structure in Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. Undoubtedly, Armenians were one of the cornerstones of this colorful structure. According to accounts, Armenians are an Indo-European nation that transitioned to Anatolia through the Balkans. They are of Thracian-Phrygian descent, and according to the historian Herodotus, they are a branch of the Phrygians of Thracian origin that turned towards the Urartu region. As a result of the pressure from the Illyrians (Albanians), they migrated to Eastern Anatolia in the 6th century BC. Here, they merged with the remnants of previously existing peoples such as Urartians and Hurrians, and Caucasian-origin peoples to form today's Armenian society.

This nation calls itself "Hay" (Arm. Հայ) and their country "Hayastan" (Arm. Հայաստան). The name "Armenian" is a word that passed from Ancient Persian to other languages and was first recorded as "Arminiya" in 510 BC in the Behistun inscription found in Iran-Kermanshah. The relationship of Armenians, who lived densely in the Arminiya Satrapy (Province) in the Persian Empire (Achaemenids), with Iranians continued for long centuries. In the last periods of the Achaemenids, the importance of the Arminiya Satrapy increased considerably and became the scene of power struggles. With Alexander the Great's end to the Achaemenids, an authority vacuum was created, and small and large kingdoms emerged in the region. Thus, two Armenian Kingdoms emerged, one in the Aras Valley and the other in Elazığ, and apart from this, Armenians also existed in states such as the Pontus Kingdom, which emerged in Amasya center.

A View from Eğin (19th century)

Armenians define themselves as the "first people to become Christian" and are truly proud of this. This issue constitutes the most fundamental building block of Armenian identity. In addition to this, it is necessary to mention Surp Krikor Lusavorich here. For Armenians, the name Lusavorich is of great importance. Surp Krikor Lusavorich (or Saint Gregory), at the end of a difficult life, introduces the Armenian people to Christianity, and in 301, the Armenian people officially choose Christianity under his leadership. For this reason, Armenians gave him the title Lusavorich, meaning "Enlightener". The "Gregorian" sect followed by the Armenian majority also comes from the name of Saint Gregory (Surp Krikor).

Of course, like every society, Armenian society does not consist of a homogeneous structure and a monolithic identity. "Armenianness" encompasses various groups in terms of belief, language, and political approaches and interpretations. The Hayhoroms, which are the main subject of this article, are an interesting motif that existed within this diversity.

Hay, as mentioned above, means "Armenian". Ho means "and", and Rom means "Greek", that is, "Roman". Hay-Ho-Rom can be roughly translated into Turkish as "Armenian-Greeks" or "Roman Armenians". This community speaks Armenian, but the place they are directly affiliated with is the Greek Orthodox Church. In other words, they are essentially Eastern Romans... Although Hayhoroms lived in small groups in Central and Eastern Anatolia (especially in the Tokat region), they mainly existed in Eğin (now called Kemaliye), which is located in Erzincan today and whose Armenian name is Agn. In Armenian, Agn means "eye, spring" and was used as "Eğin" in Turkish. The other large Hayhorom Community was around Geyve, and these Hayhoroms are also thought to have come from Eğin.

Hayhoroms did not know Greek. They always used Armenian in their homes and schools, and conducted church services in Armenian. Their priests did not know Greek either, only the headings, objects, and literature used in the church belonged to the Greek church. According to Arsen Yarman's account, the Badarak Rite was translated from Greek to Armenian and read according to the Greek Orthodox church authority. Although only the hymns called Havadamk and Surp Asdvadzı were read in Greek, the Hayhorom community did not understand the language of these hymns. This people were called "Dzat Hayer" or "Armenyak" by Gregorian Armenians, meaning "Half Armenian". Indeed, as mentioned above, this can be considered as another clue showing the place and importance of Gregorian Armenians' own sect and religion in their identity.

Again, according to Arsen Yarman's quote from Armenian historian Arshak Alboyajian, the Hayhoroms may have accepted Greek Orthodox rituals due to the assimilation policies of the Byzantine Empire or to take advantage of the conjunctural advantages of being Orthodox. He noted that Armenians who did not join the Orthodox Greek church were crushed under heavy taxes and military obligations, and during this process, some Armenians joined the Greek church and chose Orthodoxy.

What's more interesting about the Hayhoroms is Yorgos I. Anastasia's claims. He claims that the Hayhoroms did not know Greek, but instead spoke Armenian and Karaman Turkish. He even reports that in 1896, Karamanlidika hymns were read more in Hayhorom churches, which, if this claim is true, could be important evidence of much more intricate relationships and exchanges in Anatolia than thought. The nature, extent, and reasons behind these relationships should be academically examined. Because (if the claim is true) it is thought-provoking that Karamanlidika, rather than Greek, showed presence despite being in a different geography.

Anastasiadas mentions three theses about the origins of the Hayhoroms, and all three are interesting. The first of these is that the Hayhoroms are Armenians who preferred Orthodoxy as a result of religious differences and over time accepted themselves as Greek. Another argument is that they are the remnants of Greek mercenaries who fought for Cyrus, who tried to seize the Persian throne in 401 BC, as mentioned by Xenophon, but tried to return after his death. According to this argument, the Hayhoroms are essentially the remnants of Greeks who stayed there during the "return of the ten thousand" and became Armenianized over time. The last argument was put forward because the Hayhoroms lived mainly in Eğin. According to this, the name Eğin comes from the name of the island of Egina near Athens. The Hayhoroms are the colonial resident people who came from there and founded Eğin. According to Arsen Yarman, this is the weakest thesis because the name Eğin comes from the name Agn and, as mentioned above, means "source" in Armenian.

Two American missionaries named Eli Smith and Harrison Gray Otis Dwight, who came to the region in 1830 and conducted investigations, compiled their research and observations in a work called Missionary Researches in Armenia in 1834. On pages 274 and 275 of the second volume of the work written in English, they say the following about the Hayhoroms:

"Today, there is a small Hayhorom community in Agn. It is located north of Arabgir and west of the Euphrates River. We met one of them in Etchmiadzin. He was a banker and one of the most gentlemanly Armenians we've seen so far. According to what he told us, his birthplace was 30 hours from Diyarbakır, 30 hours from Sivas, and 16 hours from Maden. There are five villages in the area, and they all speak Armenian but are affiliated with the Greek church and have a special Metropolitan affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Istanbul. According to him, they had many privileges from the Turkish state in the past. However, with the arrival of the Russians in Erzurum, there was an uprising, and since then, they have suffered a lot from persecution. According to another news source, their books in the church were in Armenian, and when they went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, contrary to the desires of the Greeks, they would participate in the Armenians' services because they understood Armenians and didn't understand Greeks. The small clan in Agunsti, or the Armenians in Agn, are known for being bankers as well as being well-known. Some of them are among the richest in this regard in Istanbul. We haven't heard of any other Armenian community affiliated with the Greek church besides these."

A Hayhorom Family

As can be understood from the above "Half Armenian" expression, there are of course identity differences and some divisions between the Hayhoroms and Gregorian Armenians. For example, according to one account, some Armenians who fled to the mountains from the 1915 exile found themselves in a very difficult situation with the arrival of winter, and some of them decided to return to their villages, taking all risks. However, when they returned, the Hayhoroms themselves prevented them from settling in their villages. Because they had taken possession of and confiscated the goods left behind by the Gregorian Armenians when they left. However, although the Hayhoroms might not have been displaced from their lands in 1915, they soon shared the same fate as the Karaman Turks with the exchange with Greece in 1923 and were sent to Greece. Naturally, the goods they confiscated did not benefit them either... The departing Hayhoroms were settled in Kastanoitissa Village of Istiea-Edipsos Municipality on Euboea Island in Greece, and there they established what they call the "New Eğin Village". Today, they still continue their existence there. Cultural items belonging to this community are now exhibited in the Benaki Museum in Athens.

In conclusion, today the Hayhoroms and their cultural heritage have disappeared, sharing a similar fate with the Karaman Turks. For this reason, sources do not contain satisfactory information about them. Very few written and visual things remain about them.