Armenians in Istanbul

Armenians in Istanbul (Armenian: Պոլսահայեր, romanized: Bolsahayer; Turkish: İstanbul Ermenileri) are a major part of the Turkish Armenian community and historically one of the largest ethnic minorities of Istanbul, Turkey. The city is often referred to as Bolis (Պոլիս) by Armenians, which is derived from the ending of the historical name of the city Constantinople.

Armenians in Istanbul

Total population
70,000-170,000[1]
Languages
Armenian, Turkish
Religion
Armenian Apostolic Church (Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople), Armenian Catholic Church

An Armenian couple in Constantinople at the early 19th Century, by Louis Dupré.

Armenians in Istanbul by years
Year	TOTAL	Armenians	%
1478 [2]	100,000 - 120,000	5,000-6,000	5
1844[3][4]	891,000	222,000	24.9
1880s[4]		250,000
1885[3]	873,565	156,861	17.9%
1913	1,125,000	163,670[5]	14.5%
2011	13,483,052[6]	50,000 - 70,000	.3-.5%
2015	13,483,052	170,000	1.1%

Today, most estimations put the number of Armenian-Turkish Citizens in Istanbul at 50,000, 60,000 or 70,000.[7][8][9][10][11]

History

The Armenian community was made up of three religious denominations: Armenian Catholic, Armenian Protestant, and Armenian Apostolic, the Church of the vast majority of Armenians. The wealthy, Constantinople-based Amira class, a social elite whose members included the Duzians (Directors of the Imperial Mint), the Balyans (Chief Imperial Architects) and the Dadians (Superintendent of the Gunpowder Mills and manager of industrial factories).[12][13]

Institutions

At present, the Armenian community in Istanbul has 20 schools, 17 cultural and social organizations, three newspapers called Agos, Jamanak and Marmara, two sports clubs, named Şişlispor and Taksimspor, and two health establishments as well as numerous religious foundations set up to support these activities.[14][15]

Getronagan Armenian High School is in Istanbul.

Notable Armenians from Istanbul

The following is the list of prominent Armenians who either were born in Istanbul (Constantinople) or have worked there.

Ottoman era (before 1923)

• Aram Andonian, journalist
• Arpiar Arpiarian, writer
• Balyan family, dynasty of architects
• Hagop Baronian, writer, satirist
• Nazaret Daghavarian, doctor
• Erukhan, writer
• Hagop Kazazian Pasha, minister of Finance
• Komitas Vardapet, musician
• Mkrtich Khrimian, religious leader, writer
• Yervant Odian, writer, satirist
• Ruben Sevak, writer
• Levon Shant, playwright, writer
• Mimar Sinan, architect
• Siamanto, writer
• Papken Siuni, political activist
• Bedros Tourian, poet
• Daniel Varujan, poet
• Rupen Zartarian, writer, educator
• Krikor Zohrab, statesman, author

Republican era (1923–present)

• Arman Manukyan, professor, writer, economist
• Şahan Arzruni, concert pianist
• Hrant Dink, journalist, editor, columnist
• Agop Dilâçar, linguist of the Turkish language and co-founder of the Turkish Language Association
• Udi Hrant Kenkulian, Turkish classical musician
• Ara Güler, photographer

See also

• Demographics of Istanbul
• Organization of Istanbul Armenians
• Armenians in Turkey
• Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople

References

1. https://ipwr.net/global-voices/armenian-immigrants-hostage-turkish-politics%5B%5D
2. The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times: Foreign dominion to statehood : the fifteenth century to the twentieth century; Volume 2 of The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Richard G. Hovannisian, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 978-1-4039-6636-0
3. (in Armenian) Nicholas Adontz, «Հայկական հարցի լուծման շուրջ» [Around solution of the Armenian question], “Publishing house of Yerevan State University”, Yerevan, 1989, pp.87-88
4. (in Armenian) ՍՏԱՄԲՈՒԼԱՀԱՅ ՀԱՄԱՅՆՔ. ԱՆՑՅԱԼԸ, ՆԵՐԿԱՆ, ԽՆԴԻՐՆԵՐԸ (պատմական ակնարկ)
5. Justin McCarthy, THE POPULATION OF THE OTTOMAN ARMENIANS
6. Turkish Statistical Institute: Population of Town Centers and Provinces in Turkey Archived July 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
7. AZAD-HYE. "Azad-Hye Middle East Armenian Portal (Turkish Armenians hope for new era)". www.azad-hye.net. Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
8. Foreign Ministry: 89,000 minorities live in Turkey Today's Zaman
9. "Armenian in Istanbul: Diaspora in Turkey welcomes the setting of relations and waits more steps from both countries - News - ArmeniaNow.com". armenianow.com.
10. The Armenian Church Archived June 14, 2002, at the Wayback Machine
11. Edmund Herzig, Marina Kurkchiyan, The Armenians: past and present in the making of national identity, 2005, p. 133
12. Barsoumian, Hagop (1982), "The Dual Role of the Armenian Amira Class within the Ottoman Government and the Armenian Millet (1750–1850)", in Braude, Benjamin; Lewis, Bernard (eds.), Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire: The Functioning of a Plural Society, I, New York: Holmes & Meier
13. Barsoumian, Hagop (1997), "The Eastern Question and the Tanzimat Era", in Hovannisian, Richard G (ed.), The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century, New York: St. Martin's, pp. 175–201, ISBN 0-312-10168-6
14. "Ana Sayfa - T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı". www.kultur.gov.tr.
15. AFP news agency (Director). Discreet but proud: The Armenians of Istanbul. Event occurs at 10 seconds. Retrieved 2018-05-14.

Further reading

• Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.), Armenian Constantinople. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2010.
• Şekeryan, Ari (2020). "The transformation of the political position of the Armenian community in Istanbul vis-à-vis the declaration of the Republic of Turkey". Turkish Studies. 21 (2): 297–323. doi:10.1080/14683849.2019.1604137. S2CID 151025314.
• Tchilingirian, Hratch, "The 'Other' Citizens: Armenians in Turkey between Isolation and (dis)Integration," Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 25 (2017), pp. 156–84.