20 THURSDAY 23 JULY 2009 NEWS IN ENGLISH Ï Êüóìïò Visiting Yaghdan: The last Greek village in Yaghdan, , Ar- menia - rontik Nikolayid was born in the village of FYaghdan in the Lori province. He later moved to Y- erevan and today heads up the Greek “Pontic” NGO. Mr. Nikolayid knows the exact number of Greek-Armenians living in the capital city - 615 families, 1253 people. He also stresses, however, that there are very few pure Greek fami- lies, where the husband and wife are both Greek. “My wife is Armenian, therefore she is Valentina Kerkhanacheva of Yaghdan. not part of that 1,253,” Frontik says jokingly. collapsing daily into darkness. ian; and after independence, it Armenia is one of the most In those days, even Armenians is now an Armenian school,” monoethnic states in the were escaping en masse. said Mrs. Kerkhanacheva. world, where only 2.5-3 per- Thereby, the 6,000-strong The residents of Yaghdan cent of the population isn’t Greek community by 1994 had are primarily occupied with ethnic Armenian. Of the eth- diminished as a result of mi- dairy farming and agriculture, nic minorities that do exist in gration to Greece. The same cultivating potatoes. Armenia, the Greek communi- phenomena occured to the A Greek village has also ty is unique because it has ex- Greek community of Georgia been preserved in Nagorno- isted here for 350 years. Dur- as well. Here, once again, Ar- Karabakh: the village of ing the second half of the 18th menians and Greeks lived side Mehmana in the region of century, close to 800 Greek by side, primarily in the region Martakert, where there contin- families moved from the Ot- of Tsalka. The Armenians and ue to live several Greek fami- toman Empire’s Gyumushan the Georgians referred to the lies. region and established them- Pontic Greeks as Bertsens. The Greek government, selves in the present-day city of At one time in Armenia, through its embassy in Yere- in the province of Lori there were purely Greek or ma- van, provides different kinds of and the surrounding regions. jority-Greek villages such as assistance to the Greeks of 9292 The Greeks were considered Yaghdan, Madan, Koghos, Yaghdan and other regions. specialists in mining and for Hankavan, , and “In 2005, through the funds that reason they moved to Akhtala. In 1922, the entire supplied by the Greek govern- these areas. In later years, population of Koghes moved to ment, a 1.5 km water pipe was some of them moved to the Greece. Today, outside of Y- built. Officials from the Greek mining regions of Hankavan erevan, it is possible to come Embassy visit Yaghdan from and Kapan, thereby spreading across some Greeks in Gyumri, time to time,” said the village their knowledge of mining , Noyemberian, head. throughout Armenia. , Alaverdi, Hrazdan, The Pontic Greeks, after liv- “Our forebears came from Akhtala, and Shamlugh. But the ing in Armenia for centuries, the shores of the Black Sea, only village that is considered continue to retain their lan- from historic Pontos and then Greek is the village of Yaghdan, guage, customs, and traditions, Gyumashan. Our language is found not far from Stepanavan. and after independence have closer to old Greek and is dif- However, even there the managed to maintain close ties ferent from modern Greek. A- Greeks are a minority. with their homeland, Greece. part from language, our organ- Valentina Kerkhanacheva is The director of the Pontic ization has arranged for Greek the village head of Yaghdan. NGO, Mr. Nikolayid, says that history classes twice a week at Today, there are 209 homes in the Greeks in Armenia ob- Number 132 School in Yere- Yaghdan, 89 of which are in- serve all Greek holidays, the van,” Mr. Nikolayid said. habited, while the others are most important of which is The number of Greeks in empty and are already slowly March 25, Greece’s National Armenia severely dropped af- decaying. Of those 89 homes, Day. ter the 1988 earthquake. The only 36 families are natives of “May 19 is the day Pontic Greek government invited Yaghdan; the rest have come Greeks commemorate the over 300 Greek children, from the surrounding areas, massacre perpertrated by the whose homes were damaged even from Yerevan, Vanadzor, Ottoman Empire. Every year during the earthquake, to and Alaverdi. In the 1990s, on that day, we go to Tzitzer- Greece. After staying in during the cold and dark years, nakaberd. On October 28 we Greece for six months, when people were moving from the celebrate Okhi day; that is the the children returned to Arme- cities to the villages. day that Greece was able to nia in May 1989, they, along The village head told us that throw out the Italian fascists with their families and other during the Soviet years, there from Greece. In terms of reli- Greeks from the village of were only four ethnic Armen- gious observances, we cele- Yaghdan and other areas af- ian families here; the rest were brate Greek Easter and Greek fected by the earthquake, re- all Greek. “Today we have 238 Christmas,” he said. turned back to Greece for inhabitants, of which only 60- For those Greeks living in good. 70 are Greek and the rest Ar- Armenia, their ancient history The allure of leaving for menian who came from differ- and culture, their gods and Greece was justifiable. Aside ent regions and took up resi- mythology are a source of from returning to their historic dence in the abandoned great pride. They are also homeland, the Greeks were es- homes. Until 1936, the school proud of friendly Armenian- caping a country that was be- in the village was a Greek Greek relations, which has sur- 14038 coming poorer and poorer and school; then it became Russ- vived for centuries.