Ormenio ( el, Ορμένιο, tr, Çirmen, bg, Черномен, Chernomen) is the northernmost place in all of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. It is part of the municipal unit of

Trigono Trígono ( el, Τρίγωνο, , meaning "triangle") is a former municipality in the Evros regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Orestiada, of which it is a munici ...

in the Evros regional unit of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

. It is situated near the right bank of the river Evros, which forms the border with

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

here. On the other side of the Evros, 6 km to the north, lies the Bulgarian town Svilengrad. Nearby villages in Greece are Ptelea to its southeast and

Petrota Petrota ( el, Πετρωτά) is a village at the northernmost point of Greece, part of the municipal unit Trigono. It was created around 1530 by Greeks that moved there from Epirus and Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Mal ...

to its southwest.

History

In 1371 Ormenio was the site of the Battle of Maritsa in which the

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

army under Ivan Uglesha and Vukashin was decisively defeated by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. It was known as "Çirmen" during Ottoman rule and was a sanjak centre until 1829. In 1878 it was inhabited by 870 Bulgarians and 120 Muslims. After the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

, the village was annexed to Bulgaria as "Chernomen" until 1919, when the village was ceded to Greece in the Treaty of Neuilly. In 1997 under the

Kapodistrias reform Kapodistrias reform ( el, Σχέδιο Καποδίστριας, "Kapodistrias Plan") is the common name of law 2539 of Greece, which reorganised the country's administrative divisions. The law, named after 19th-century Greek statesman Ioannis Kap ...

, the community of Ormenio became part of the new municipality of Trigono with 12 other former communities. At the 2011 Kallikratis reform Trigono became a municipal unit of the municipality

Orestiada Orestiada ( el, Ορεστιάδα, formerly , ''Nea Orestiás''), is the northeasternmost, northernmost and newest city of Greece and the second largest town of the Evros regional unit of Thrace. Founded by Greek refugees from Edirne after the ...

Population

Transport

Road

Ormenio is bypassed by the Greek National Road 51/ European route E85 (Feres - Soufli - Orestiada - Ormenio), which continues across the border as the Bulgarian road 80 to Svilengrad.

Rail

The community is served by Ormenio railway station, the most northernly railway station in Greece and the terminal for (the Greek portion) the Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad line. There is currently no rail connection to Svilengrad via Ormenio. Ormenio had a railway station on the line from Didymoteicho to Harmanli in Bulgaria. During the Ottoman era, Ormenio was called ''Çirmen'' in Turkish.http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0002131.pdf Georgios Liakopoulos' Master of Science Thesis in Bilkent University

Notable locals

* Flavius Belisarius, the famous Roman general, was born in Germen, the Roman precursor of Ormenio.Robert Graves, Count Belisarius and Procopius's Wars, 1938

References

External links

Ormenio on GTP Travel Pages
{{Trigono Bulgaria–Greece border crossings Populated places in Evros (regional unit)