History
The Azov Greeks are a part of the Hellenic population of the former Byzantine Empire. The Greek villages on the shores of the Azov Sea arose at the end of the XVIII century. The resettlement of Greeks was promoted by a policy established under Ekaterina II's rule. For many years a bloody wars were fought between the Russian and Ottoman empires for possession of the Crimean peninsula and adjoining territories. As a result of these wars, a significant amount of land near the Azov and Black seas came under the jurisdiction of the Russian state.
After the wars, the Russian government, in an attempt to undermine the Crimean state economy and developed policy, to stimulate resettlement of the Greek Christian population from the Crimean peninsula to the shores of the Azov sea.
This began in 1778 and continued for some years. The lands around the Azov and Black seas were largely wild and by resettling the Christian Greeks, Russia had wished to develop these lands and establish a buffer between the largely Islamic Ottoman Empire and the predominantly Orthodox Russian Empire.
The Big Greek Diaspora exists on the shores of the Azov Sea at present time. Its people continue the traditions of their Greek forefathers and also speak the unique language of the Byzantine Hellenes. The results of resettling the Greeks to the Azov Sea area are still ambiguous, many issues and concerns, more than two hundred years later are still being debated.