Armenians in Greece - Early 20th Century

Early 20th Century

In 1890, there was a small community of Armenians in Athens and in Piraeus of about 150 people which turned into 600 after the incorporation of Thessalonica and some cities of Macedonia after the Balkan Wars. During the Hamidian massacres, Armenians that managed to escape and who were saved from the slaughters were given shelter at the harbour of Piraeus. More than 1,000 Armenians enjoyed the hospitality of the Greeks. At that time the Prime Minister of Greece, Theodoros Deligiannis, showed fatherly affection to them. After the genocidal campaign of the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians and Greeks, Greece welcomed a large influx of refugees consisting of about 80,000 Armenians and 1,500,000 Greeks into its country. The refugees mostly came from Cilicia, Smyrna, Ionia, Constantinople and other regions of Asia Minor. The Greco-Armenians were very active in art and commerce producing painters like Edouard Sakayan.