On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, the residents of Hamshen will sing in a dialect of the Armenian language in Istanbul, reported Agos Weekly.

Today, on International Mother Language Day, the Vova Group of Hamshen will sing the songs of Hamshen at a club in Istanbul.

Let us mention Vova Group’s first big performance was a performance of the Armenian song “Yar Yar” during the event commemorating notable Istanbul-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

In 2005, the members of Vova Group recorded 13 folk songs in the dialect of Hamshen for the album entitled “Vova” (in the dialect of Hamshen, “Vova” means “Ov Eh”-Who is it”-tert.am). Most of the songs were unfamiliar to the young generation of residents of Hamshen.

Historic Hamshen is located in the northeastern sector of modern-day Turkey. Founded by Prince Hamam Amatuni, the city of Hamamashen can be found on the map under the Turkish name “Hemshin”, and another settlement of Turkic-speaking Hamshen citizens-Chamlihemshin (translated as Hamshen with a lot of fir trees, in the dialect of Hamshen, “Cham” means “fir tree”-tert.am) is located a little towards the east from Hamamashen. Several families of people of Hamshen having emigrated from Hamshen to Khopa, Ordu, Giresu and Samsun as a consequence of religious and national persecutions preserved Armenian up to the 1980s. To this day, the people of Hamshen speak Armenian fluently in several villages of Khopa.