by David Zenian
Looking at the world map today, it is difficult to imagine how ancient Greece and Armenia were once neighbors. But while their geographic proximity has changed since 1071, the special bonds between the two nations have survived the test of time.
The first Armenians settled in Byzantium after the collapse of the Armenian Kingdom of Arshagouni in 428 AD and the subsequent wars between Greece and Persia.
Another wave followed the same route after the historic battle of Avarayr in 451 AD-a defining moment in Armenia's struggle to preserve its Christian faith.
For centuries after that generations of Armenians have found refuge in Greece, escaping wars and other calamities as borders shifted, their homes and kingdoms destroyed or occupied by foreign powers.
Little is seen in recorded Greek history about the early Armenians, except for a number of towns and villages that carry Armenian names. These include the Armenos region, along with the villages of Armenion, Armensti, and Armenico in northeastern Greece.
In the early 800's AD a number of Armenian warriors like Pedranos Mamigonian and his brother Vart led their forces in successful battles against the Arab expansion. They were both loyal to the Byzantine rulers of the time, and enjoyed exceptional powers in the northern regions of the Empire.
But soon they were to assimilate and gradually lose their Armenian identity, disappearing into the melting pot of a Western culture, hundreds of miles away from their homes and historic lands.
A revival, however, came after the birth of the Ottoman Empire and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 AD.
Now both Greeks and Armenians were under the same rule, facing the same hardships, suffering under the harsh rule of the same enemy. Parts of Armenia and all of Greece were under Ottoman rule, but Greece being a Christian country, many Armenians found it to be a safer place to live than under direct occupation.
The new wave of Armenians began arriving in northeastern Greece in the early 1500's during the reign of Sultan Selim who sent 250 Armenian families to Adrianopolis to build a mosque. At the end of the construction project, however, the Armenian families remained in Greece, establishing permanent residence there.
Persecution and famine in the opening years of the 16th century sent more Armenians away from their homeland, including thousands who turned again to Greece for refuge. Travelling by land, they too ended in northeastern Greece.
A historical document dated 1737 indicates an Armenian presence in some 30 different locations across Greece, including towns like Xánthi, Thessaloniki, Kavala and many others which still have small Armenian populations today.
Greece was considered such a "safe haven" for Armenians in that era, that Mekhitar Sepastatsi, the cleric who founded the Mekhitarist Order of Monks, moved to Greece in 1701 before heading to Venice in 1715.
While there are no reliable estimates on the number of Armenians in Greece during those early days, historical records are full of incidents where Armenians played an active role.
One vivid example is the part the Armenians played in the 1821 Greek revolt against Turkish rule, which ended with the defeat of the Ottoman army and Greek independence in 1830-itself a turning point in the revival and growth of the Armenian community in Greece.
In the years that followed the end of Ottoman rule and Greek independence, first by the hundreds, and then by the thousands, Armenians began settling in Greece.
Among the early arrivals in 1872 were a group of more than 100 Armenian builders from the town of Mush who were recruited by Germany to build the Istanbul-Thessaloniki railway when the northern coastal city was still under Ottoman rule.
Upon the completion of the project in 1874, the Armenian builders and construction workers remained in Thessaloniki, laying the foundations of a community which still exists until now.
A few years later, another group of Armenian workers were sent to the same region to work on water distribution canals, and they too, stayed behind and established permanent residency in the northern regions of Greece which were still under Ottoman rule.
Wave after wave, more Armenians began arriving in the decades to come, especially after the 1895-96 massacre of Armenians in eastern Turkey at the hands of Sultan AbdulHamid.
There are no exact numbers regarding the Armenians in Greece at the end of the last century, but their presence was felt during the 1897 Greek uprising against the remaining Ottoman rule. A special military unit composed of 600 Armenian fighters, under the leadership of Nshan Mirakian, joined in the battle against the Ottoman Turks. But the Armenian involvement was not without a price. Many were killed and others were taken prisoners.
The same Armenian involvement was also evident in the 1912 war between Greece and Turkey, where hundreds of Armenians enlisted on the Greek side. That conflict ended with Greece taking full control of it's northern regions.
The bond between Greeks and Armenians became stronger when Turkey, now a modern state after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, began retaliating against the Greek and Armenian populations in Asia minor, and especially those living around Smyrna (Izmir).
According to official League of Nations estimates at the time, some 500,000 Greeks and an estimated 150,000 Armenians from the greater Smyrna region were expelled by 1923. According to the same estimates, among the Armenians were more than 17,000 orphans.
Greece, itself poor and struggling under the burden of housing its own refugee population, took in the homeless Armenians. Orphanages were set up, along with vast tent cities and shantytowns.
The Greek government went further by offering Greek citizenship to all the Armenian refugees, which, for reasons that are still a matter of debate, was turned down by the political groups representing the refugee population.
One explanation often given was that the Armenian refugees saw Greece as a temporary home and were convinced that they would soon return to their homes and villages which they had left behind.
This was especially true in the case of the Armenians of Izmir, who were more successful and better off financially and felt it was only a matter of time for them to reclaim their properties and homes with the help of the victorious Allied armies after the first World War.
The Armenians were determined to maintain their identities, but when a special League of Nations mission visited Greece and asked the refugees what they wanted to do, they responded with an overwhelming wish to move out and settle elsewhere.
According to published reports dating to that period, the refugees listed Soviet Armenia, France, Latin America and even Turkey as their final destinations of choice.
Eventually, a population of over 150,000 began a second exodus and by 1924 only 64,000 Armenians remained in Greece, scattered among the dozens of refugee camps across the country.
For the remaining Armenian population, life remained an uphill battle. Poverty was rampant, and education was more of a luxury than a way of life. While small businesses flourished, the majority of the population remained under the poverty line.
When the Second World War broke, and Greece fell under German occupation, the Armenians found themselves once again faced with more hardship and even hunger. Many looked at Soviet Armenia as a safe haven, and began agitating for permission to leave for Armenia.
It was during those lean years that the Armenian General Benevolent Union, like other organizations, came to the rescue, establishing soup kitchens, feeding more than 3,000 refugees, especially women and children.
But the assistance was not enough, and soon when the offer came from Soviet Armenia to receive part of the refugee population, thousands began registering to join the first caravans out of Greece.
When World War II ended, the first convoys departed Thessaloniki on August 2, 1947. The second caravan was from Athens, and within months more than 22,000 Armenians left Greece.
A community which numbered more than 31,000 at the start of the World War II, shrank to a little more than 10,000.
Today, the community is well established, and Greece is no longer just a temporary refuge, but home. The Armenians have integrated, become Greek citizens and serve in the armed forces.
