What happened to the Armenians of the Balkans?

[Crn Volk]

During the Byzantine Empire Armenians were present in the Balkans in relatively large numbers. Some of the rulers of Byzantium and Bulgaria for example were of Armenian descent (eg. Basil I the Macedonian, Tsar Samuel...). There was even a Armenian division of the Macedono-Adrianople Volunteer Corps that fought in the 2nd Balkan war. Does anyone know how/why they came to live in the Balkans, and what happened to them after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It seems strange that they do not appear as a minority in any of the modern Balkan states.

[Onur]

Armenians continued to live in Balkans throughout the Ottoman era too. This was their way of life, living scattered from eastern Anatolia to Balkans since Byzantine era.

Most of them has been hellenized and became Greeks. Some of them has been converted to catholicism in 19th century. The ones in Cyprus became Greek Cypriots and probably the rest of them has been migrated to USA and western Europe between 1890s to 1910s.

[xajapa]

Thanks for the post Sokol. I always enjoy learning about historical events, especially military history. I can't answer your question, but I did find these interesting articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Balkan_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andranik_Ozanian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garegin_Nzhdeh

[Crn Volk]

Interesting, thanks Onur.

[ioan assen]

The Armenians in Bulgaria were bulgarized. There were lots of Armenians in Thrace, around Plovdiv. Due to the fact that the Bulgarians and Armenians are quite compatible they were bulgarized. Most of the Bulgarian catholics are descendants of Armenian Paulikians who were bulgarized and became cathlics in 17th century. Alot of Armenians came in the time of the genocide. Yavorov - our most notable poet wrote a poem "Armentsi (Armenians)" around that time. Its the 4th biggest minority in Bulgaria. Lots of artists, directors, musicians in Bulgaria are either Armenian or have Armenian origin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians_in_Bulgaria

[Chuck Norris]

Armenians continued to live in Balkans throughout the Ottoman era too. This was their way of life, living scattered from eastern Anatolia to Balkans since Byzantine era.

Most of them has been hellenized and became Greeks. Some of them has been converted to catholicism in 19th century. The ones in Cyprus became Greek Cypriots and probably the rest of them has been migrated to USA and western Europe between 1890s to 1910s.

No, they were never scattered and we know what happend to them in Turkey. They have always been in Armenia:

http://www.welcomearmenia.com/img/011_greatarm_map_eng.gif

Regarding the Armenians in the Balkens. Most came there as traders, artisans, and Aristocrats. Since they were not catholic they converted and assimilated. However, a majority of royal families of the Balkens have Armenian ancestry. In a sense, they are still there. For example:

Erno Kiss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C5%91_Kiss)

To give you an extent of their influence in...let us say Hungary? Like 20 of the 30 trading houses were Armenian owned. I don't have the exact date but somewhere around the 18th century plus/minus 75 years.

[bakodi.peter]

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm really interested in this topic, since I've ordered a DNA test from FamilyTreeDNA, and it happens to be that on my direct paternal line I have distant Armenian "genetic relatives". Various calculators gives the TMRCA (time to the most recent common ancestor) at about 1200-800 years.

Previously I knew only that my paternal ancestors were nobles, their charta and coat of arms dates back 1593, and it appears to be a look-alike Albanian flag on it. (Red flag with a black double-headed eagle.)

Since that I've read a lot about Armenian history and Armenians during the Byzantine period. It's true that many Armenians lived in the Balkans, for some centuries Armenians were the main component of the Byzantine army, and the Balkan frontier was of great importance.

There were Armenian settlements in Epirus as well, so it could be that my forefathers were Albanized Armenians.

According to scholars and medieval sources Armenians have been living in Hungary from at least 1000 AD. The earliest charta dates back to the mid-XIIIth century granting trading rights to an Armenian settlement. Although most of the Armenians of Hungary who still consider themselves as Armenians came in the XVIIth century to Transylvania (part of the Kingdom of Hungary) from nowadays Ukraine and Moldova.