The Post-Genocide Reorganisation of the Armenian Community of Cyprus in the 1920s-1930s

Abstract

Armenians have lived in Cyprus since ancient times. Although their number on the island has never been large, they have made a significant contribution to its cultural and socio-political life. After the Adana massacre (1909) and the Armenian Genocide (1915– 1923), thousands of Armenian refugees settled in Cyprus. In the 1920s and 1930s, the process of reorganising the Armenian community of Cyprus started, new bodies of the Armenian Ethnarchy were formed, and the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus played the most important role in all these. As of the mid-1920s, the Prelature came officially under the jurisdiction of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. The reorganisation of the Armenian community of Cyprus was important in preserving the identity of local Armenians and integrating them into the island’s socio-political life. Using Armenian- speaking sources, this article offers significant information, events, and insights about the Armenian-Cypriot community, some of which are available for the first time in English. Finally, examining the inner workings of this Armenian community serves as a paradigm for the formation of the broader Armenian Diaspora.