Armenians in Cyprus - Nerkaght

Nerkaght

The nerkaght (ներգաղթ=repatriation) was a Pan-Armenian migration movement of Diasporan Armenians to Soviet Armenia, in the framework of a co-ordinated attempt of the Armenian SSR and the Church of Armenia to strengthen their claims on historical Armenia's territory, appealing to the patriotic sentiments of Armenians in the Diaspora; especially after World War II, it was also a way to partially replace the large number of Armenians who perished during the War. Massive propaganda took place, in co-operation with the AGBU and the Ramgavar party, arousing a storm of enthusiasm in the Armenian communities of the Diaspora and creating high expectations for their settling in the “homeland”, what they perceived as their ultimate destination.

Nerkaght's waves took place between 1921–1924, 1926–1929, 1932–1933, 1936, 1946–1949 (the largest wave) and 1962–1973, when 170.703 Armenians in total migrated to Soviet Armenia from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, the United States, Syria, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Palestine, Egypt, France, Turkey, Cyprus, Great Britain and Jordan.

With the exception of 4–5 individual Armenian-Cypriot families who emigrated to Soviet Armenia on their own in 1947, 576 Armenian-Cypriots in total were repatriated to Soviet Armenia between 1962–1964 (amounting to about 15% of the community at the time). From Famagusta's harbour 20 left on 19 September 1962 (with the “Felix Dzerzhinsky” steamship), 373 on 3 October 1962 (with the “Gruzia” steamship), 168 on 19 October 1963 (with the “Litva” steamship) and 15 on 4 September 1964 (with the “Odessa” steamship). Most of them settled in Girovagan (Vanatsor) or Leninagan (Guymri).

Disappointed by what they saw and lived, almost all of them wanted to return to Cyprus from the start, as they were not accustomed to that kind of life. The return started in 1967 and continued until 2005, although most of them came during the late 1980s (after the Spitak earthquake) and the early 1990s (after the dissolution of the Soviet Union). In fact, the first wave of Armenians from Armenia who came to Cyprus after 1991 were mostly Armenian-Cypriots who had migrated to Soviet Armenia in the 1960s and their spouses/descendants.