PART 2: The People of Hemşin Hamshen

Out of this historic isolation has emerged a unique breed of highland people, the Hemşinlis / Hamsheneese. Their origins are obscure. They may very well be descendants of the native tribes whom Classical Greek sources called Heptacometes. Until some time in the last century they seem to have spoken the Armenian language. Traces of Armanian survive in place names and "folkloric" terms; Hemşinli communities of the highlands of Hopa who claim to have originally migrated from Hemşin proper still speak a dialect of Armenian. This may suggest a history of settlements originating from the interior, arriving via the mountaintops. Or one may suppose a pattern of cultural influence received from the inland, just as the lowland Laz were originally converted and accultured by the coastal Greeks.

The history of the Turkification/ Islamization of Hemşin is equally obscure. It took place certainly more than 100 and possibly less than 200 years ago, although it is remarkable that not a single mosque seems to have existed in the region prior to the 20th century. A relaxed attitude toward the precepts of Islam still characterizes the region's denizens, who regard the devotional excesses of Of-Rize-Çayeli, and even the relatively enlightened Laz coast, with a certain gleeful cynicism.
They are fiercely independent mountain folks, loners, people accustomed to live under endless rain and fog in solitary far-away valleys. They have larger-than-life stories to tell. Many have gone to the ends of the world to escape the gloom of their primeval forest, but have returned, unable to resist the lure of Hemşin. One has returned to the valleys a fugitive from political persecution; another, after dissipating a fortune in gambling; a third has found himself unable to leave after serving time in the mountains on some government duty.
They are "Nordic" in the range of their moods. They live in an environment where an atavistic fear of the forest ever lurks in the background, and loneliness can strike at unex¬pected moments. Most take refuge in drinking. One often hears the boast that Hemşin has the highest per capital consumption of rakı in the country. They also gamble, compulsively, at the rickety log cafes perched above some wild cascade or tucked in an unlikely recess of the forest. When gloom threatens, they move on the high yayla, far above upper limit of regular habitation, to the intoxicating atmosphere of the mountains. Here take place in summer some of the headiest festivals in all Turkey.

PART 1: A Unique Land
PART 2: The People of Hemşin
PART 3: Migrations
PART 4: Çamhhemşin
PART 5:The Main Valley