YEREVAN, MARCH 22, ARMENPRESS: "Hamshen at Crossroads of Past and Present" documentary authored by  Lusine Sahakyan associate professor of Turkish studies Chair the Oriental Studies Chair of the Yerevan State University is scheduled to be premiered at Moscow cinema on March 22. As Armenpress reports, Lusine Sahakyan’s documentary "Hamshen at Crossroads of Past and Present" is dedicated to the current state of the Hamshen Armenians; a people who were forcibly Islamicized (Turkified) by the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

Today they live primarily in the provinces of Rizeh and Artvin, as well as in Istanbul and other cities of Turkey. The film presents unique episodes from the history and culture of the once powerful Armenian Principality of Hamshen, and the practice of Islamization, which in the author's opinion is a form of genocide. Based on material shot on location, the present- day culture of the Hamshentsis is chronicled: their songs and dances, customs, linguistic situation, as well as their everyday life and occupations, conceptions of their own identity, and the demographic overview.

Lusine Sahakyan is the author of numerous scientific articles on Ottoman and Armenian history. Her documentary film named " Hamshen at crossroads of past and present"  was awarded to the  prize after German writer and publicist Armin Wegner, an  eye- witnesses of the Armenian Genocide,  in the 15th Arpa International Film Festival, hosted in Hollywood 2012 December.