Hidden Armenians (Armenian: թաքնված հայեր, romanized: t’ak’nvats hayer; Turkish: Gizli Ermeniler) or crypto-Armenians (Kripto Ermeniler) is an umbrella term to describe Turkish citizens hiding their full or partial Armenian ancestry from the larger Turkish society. They are mostly descendants of Ottoman Armenians who, at least outwardly, were Islamized (and Turkified or Kurdified) "under the threat of physical extermination" during the Armenian genocide.
Turkish journalist Erhan Başyurt describes hidden Armenians as "families (and in some cases, entire villages or neighbourhoods) [...] who converted to Islam to escape the deportations and death marches [of 1915], but continued their hidden lives as Armenians, marrying among themselves and, in some cases, clandestinely reverting to Christianity." According to the 2012 European Commission report on Turkey, a "number of crypto-Armenians have started to use their original names and religion." The Economist suggests that the number of Turks who reveal their Armenian background is growing. In Turkish, they are referred to by the derogatory term "leftovers of the sword" (Turkish: kılıç artıkları).
