THE ORIGIN OF HAMSHEN ARMENIANS NOT UNDER QUESTION

ArmRadio.am
06.12.2006 13:26

The hypothesis of Turkish scholars about the Turkish origin of "
Armenian-speaking Hamshens" has been refuted. He first results
of the molecular-hereditary expertise of Hamshen Armenians are
already ready. "Yerkramas" newspaper of Russian Armenians reports
that according to Dr. Levon Yepiskoposyan, the coordinator of the
given project, the hereditary examination of DNA samples of Hamshen
Armenians has been carried out in the London University College
together with British colleagues.

According to Levon Yepiskoposyan’s data, the examinations allow to
confirm that the Armenian origin of Hamshen Armenians is not under
question.

To note, Hamshen Armenians comprise the majority of the Armenian
population of Krasnodar region and Kuban. They moved to Kuban still
in mid-19th century after the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman
Empire. According to the data of experts, about 250 thousand Hamshen
Armenians reside in Kuban and Abkhazia, while according to different
sources, 700,000 – 2 million Islamized Hamshen Armenians reside
in Turkey.