Hemshin people
Hemsheni women in Rize, Turkey | |
| Total population | |
| 150,000–200,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Turkey: Rize (majority: Hemşin, Çamlıhemşin; minority: Çayeli, İkizdere) Artvin (almost half: Kemalpaşa; minority: Hopa) Trabzon (minority: Araklı) Erzurum (minority: Tortum, İspir) Diaspora communities in Sakarya and Düzce Russia: Sochi (more than half: Adlersky City District) | |
| Turkey | 150,000 |
| Russia | 2,082 |
| Languages | |
| Armenian (Homshetsi dialect), Turkish, Laz | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam in Turkey Armenian Apostolic in Georgia and Russia | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Armenians, Pontic Greeks, Laz people, Turks | |
The Hemshin people (Armenian: Համշենցիներ, Hamshentsiner; Turkish: Hemşinliler), also known as Hemshinli or Hamshenis or Homshetsi, are a bilingual ethnographic group of Armenians who mostly practice Sunni Islam after their conversion from Christianity in the beginning of the 18th century and are affiliated with the Hemşin and Çamlıhemşin districts in the province of Rize, Turkey.
They are Armenian in origin, and were originally Christians and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, but evolved into a distinct community over the centuries and converted to Sunni Islam after the conquest of the region by the Ottomans during the second half of the 15th century. In Turkey, Hemshin people do not speak the Homshetsi dialect apart from the "Eastern Hamsheni" group living in provinces of Artvin and Sakarya and their mother tongue is now Turkish.
For centuries, the ongoing migration from the geographically isolated highlands to lowlands made the Hemshin people settle in the areas near Trabzon, Artvin and in the Western part of the Black Sea coast. Thus, a significant Hamsheni population formed in those areas.