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Electronic version of  “ARMENIA: The Survival of a Nation”, revised second edition © 1990 Christopher J. Walker

 

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Biographical Notes

 

 

These entries are intended as a guide to the lives of some of the important Armenian figures of the past 150 years or so, many of whose names appear in the foregoing pages; they do not add up to a comprehensive 'Who's Who' of the modern period of Armenian history. Much the greater part of the information contained in them has been given to me by Zaven Messerlian of Beirut, to whom I repeat my thanks. However, the choice of entries has been mine. With some exceptions, my criterion for including a biography has been that the individual had some direct contact with the land of Armenia, or in shaping her destiny. A long entry does not necessarily mean that the person was correspondingly important.

 

ABOVIAN KHACHATUR (Kanaker ?1809 – ? Yerevan 1848) Educated at the Nersesian Academy, Tiflis. Appointed secretary to the Catholicos, Echmiadzin. Acted as guide for the ascent of Ararat by the German scientist F. Parrot in 1829; through Parrot's efforts he obtained a scholarship to Dorpat university (modern Tartu, Estonia), 1830–6. Received hostile reception from clergy and traditionalists on his return home. To Tiflis as a teacher in a state school in 1837. Encountered further hostility. Wrote novel Verk Hayastani ('Wounds of Armenia') based on fact, 1840–1; first published Tiflis, 1858. Translated from Homer, Schiller, Goethe, Rousseau and others. Appointed principal of village school in Yerevan in 1843. Disappeared April 1848.

 

AGHASI (Karapet Tursargisian) (Zeitun 1871–1937) Leading Hunchak; most significant leader of the battle against the Turkish forces in October–November 1895. Wrote a history of Zeitun from its origins to 1895. (French translation by Arshak Chobanian, Paris, 1897)

 

AGHBALIAN, NIKOL (Tiflis 1875 – Beirut 1947) Educated Nersesian Academy and Gevorgian Seminary. Became a teacher; contributed to Murdj ('Hammer'). Continued education at universities of Moscow, Paris and Lausanne. Leading Dashnak party member. Returned to Transcaucasia in 1905. Headmaster of Armenian school in Tehran 1909–12. Co-editor with Arshak Djamalian of Horizon (Tiflis), 1913. Participated in 8th Dashnak party congress, Erzerum, 1914. Member of Armenian National Council 1914–15; also one of the organisers of the Armenian volunteer forces. Member of Armenian Parliament from 1918; minister of education in Khatisian's Cabinet. Established a centre of higher studies at Alexandropol, 31 January 1920.

 

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Arrested by the Bolsheviks; released after February uprising. Fled the return of the Bolsheviks into Persian Azerbaijan. Director of an Armenian school in Alexandria 1923–8. In 1928 founded in Beirut Hamazkayin cultural/educational organisation, and, with Levon Shant, the Djemaran (academy). Taught grabar and history of Armenian literature there until his death.

 

AHARONIAN, AVETIS (nr Igdir 1866 – Marseilles 1948) Educated at Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin. Taught 1886–96, mainly in Igdir. Became active member of Dashnak party. Higher education in Lausanne and Paris, 1898–1901. Returned to Transcaucasia; pursued journalistic and literary labours. Appointed in 1906 to the board of Droshak ('Flag'), official journal of Dashnaktsutiun. Headmaster of Nersesian Academy, Tiflis, 1907–9. Arrested and jailed successively in Metekh, Baku, Rostov and Novo Cherkask. Developed lung condition. Bribed his way out of jail in 1911; escaped to Europe via Constantinople. Settled in Switzerland, maintaining links with Caucasian press. Returned to Transcaucasia 1916. One of the organisers of the Armenian National Congress (September 1917), which elected the National Council. President (speaker) of the Parliament of the Republic of Armenia. Delegated to confer with Ittihadist leaders in Constantinople, June 1918. Appointed permanent delegate at the Paris peace conference, 1919. Signed the treaty of Sèvres on behalf of the Republic of Armenia, August 1920. Stayed on during negotiations leading to treaty of Lausanne (July 1923), at which he protested. Settled in Marseilles. Paralysed by a stroke while giving a speech in February 1934; an invalid for the rest of his life.

 

AKNUNI, E. (Khachatur Malumian) (Meghri, Zangezur c. 1865 – Ayash 1915) Dashnak party activist. Contributed to Mshak ('Labourer', Tiflis). Spent some time in St Petersburg. Active in Paris in 1904 plotting the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid with the Young Turks. After Armeno–Tatar clashes of 1905 wrote strongly anti-Russian work, translated into French as Les plaies du Caucase. Played important role in 1907 in smoothing way to Young Turk revolution; to Constantinople in 1908, where he gave enthusiastic speeches in support of the revolution. Toured Armenian colonies in Europe and America in 1912. Arrested on 24 April 1915 and murdered during genocide.

 

ALISHAN, Father GHEVOND (Constantinople 1820 – Venice 1901) Baptismal name Keropé. Sent to study at Mkhitarist monastery, San Lazzaro, Venice, in 1832. Ordained Armenian Catholic priest in 1840. To England in 1852; also visited other Western European states. Teacher and later headmaster of the Murad Rapayelian school, Venice. Students included Arpiar Arpiarian. His nationalistic poetry and prose were an inspiration to Kamar Katiba, Dserents, Raffi, Khrimian Hairik, Mikayel Nalbandian and Grigor Ardsruni. Publications include: Houshikk Haireniats Hayots (1869), Sisouan (1885), Hayapatum (1901).

 

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ANDRANIK (Ozanian), General (Shabin Karahisar 1865 – Fresno 1927) Trained as a carpenter. Began revolutionary activity in Sivas province in 1888. Joined the Dashnak party in 1892. Defended Armenian villages in Moush-Sasun district in 1895–6. To Transcaucasia in 1897, to the party headquarters in Tiflis. Returned to Turkish Armenia well armed and with extensive powers. Leader of the guerrilla forces in Sasun from 1899, with 38 villages under his command. After the murder of Serop in 1900, Andranik assassinated his killer, Bshara Khalil agha; became leader of Armenians of entire Bitlis and Moush district. Besieged at Arakelots monastery (near Moush) in November 1901, he broke out with his men after donning the uniforms of Turkish officers. Confronted by large Turkish force in spring 1904, he and his men – the elite of the Armenian guerrillas – effected a retreat to Van via Aghtamar. Left Turkish Armenia for Persia. To Transcaucasia; then Vienna. Resigned from the Dashnak party in 1907. Spent some time in Geneva and Egypt; then to Sofia. Soon identified himself with the Macedonian struggle; led a troop of 230 Armenian volunteers in the First Balkan war, 1912. To Transcaucasia on outbreak of first world war; commanded a volunteer troop of 1,000 men, active on the North Persian front, contributing to the Russian victory at Diliman (Shahpur, April 1915). His forces joined with the Armenian legion in expelling the Turks from south of Lake Van; but forced to retreat by a Turkish counter-offensive (July 1915). His unit dissolved by the authorities in early 1916. Commander of the Western Armenian division, in December 1917, whose three brigades constituted part of the Armenian Corps (established January 1918). Forced to evacuate Erzerum, March 1918. Resigned his command and left for Tiflis in same month. Formed new Western Armenian brigade; did not participate in the battle of Sardarabad. Angry with the leaders of the Republic of Armenia for signing the treaty of Batum; recognised the government of Soviet Russia, and declared Nakhichevan to be part of it (July 1918), having gone to Zangezur via Nakhichevan. About to March on Shushi (Karabagh) in December 1918, when a message from the British commander halted him, thereby causing Karabagh to remain outside Armenia to this day. To Echmiadzin via Daralagiaz, March 1919; forced by British pressure to disband his brigade. Left Transcaucasia in April 1919; to Paris and London, trying to persuade Allies to occupy Turkish Armenia. To the USA fund-raising for the Armenian army. To Fresno, California, where he died in 1927; his body shipped abroad for burial in Armenia; refused entry by Communist authorities, so laid to rest in Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris. In 1970 his grave visited by Marshal I. Kh. Baghramian. A bust of him has been erected in Soviet Armenia.

 

ARAKELIAN, HAMBARDZUM (Shushi 1855 – Yerevan 1918) Member of the committee convened 1912 in Tiflis to discuss Turkish Armenian matters. Contributor to Mshak ('Labourer'); editor 1913–18. Leader of the Zhoghovrdakan (Populist) party after its formation in 1917 as eastern equivalent of the Ramkavars. Advocated strongly pro-Russian stance; held

 

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that Transcaucasia should always maintain links with Russia. Opposed independence of Armenia; in spring 1918 used to speak at 7–8 meetings per day putting forward his views. Assassinated by Dashnaks during the course of one such speech in May 1918.

 

ARAM Manukian (Sergei Hovhanessian) (Zeiva, nr Ghapan, Zangezur 1879 – Yerevan 1919) Educated Shushi and Yerevan. Leading Dashnaktsakan. To Baku in 1901 to organise the Armenian workers. In 1903 to Yelizavetpol (Gandja; Gandzak) to set up Armenian self-defence. Travelled on to Kars. To Van in 1904. Taught in Ordu after 1908 Ottoman constitution. Returned to Van in late 1912. In 1915, along with Armenak Yekarian, organised the Van self-defence. Governor of Vaspurakan during Russian occupation. To Tiflis after Russian withdrawal. Sent by the National Council to Yerevan in 1918. 'Dictator of Ararat region' May–July 1918; with others he organised the defences against the invading Turks. Held by Dashnaks to be the founder of the Republic of Armenia. Minister of the interior and of supplies in the government of Kachaznuni. Died 19 January 1919, of typhus.

 

ARAPO (c. 1863–93) Fedayi active in Bitlis–Sasun region before Sasun revolt. Sentenced to 15 years' hard labour; escaped from Bitlis jail. Organised villagers against Kurdish aghas and Ottoman tax-collectors. Killed in a skirmish in valley of Kyali-sor.

 

ARGHUTIANTS, HOVSEP Archbishop (Russian: Iosif Arguninskii) (Sanahin 1743–1801) Ordained a celibate priest; initially a brother at Echmiadzin. In 1773 appointed primate of the Armenians of Astrakhan. A friend of Prince Potemkin. In 1779 secured permission from Catherine the Great for the establishment of Nor Nakhichevan (nr Rostov-on-Don) as a settlement for Armenians from the Crimea. In 1780 discussed with Potemkin, Gen. Suvarov and H. Lazarian (of Moscow) the possibility of liberating Armenia; proposed that a future Armenia should be a vassal to Russia paying tribute and participating in Russian wars. Opened a school in Nor Nakhichevan in 1790. Contributed to Azdarar of Madras.

 

ARMEN GARO (Garegin Pasdermadjian) (Erzerum 1873 – Geneva 1924) Educated Sanasarian College, Erzerum, and Nancy (France). Joined Dashnak party 1895. Participated in seizure of Ottoman Bank, Constantinople, 1896. Returned to Europe to pursue scientific training. To Transcaucasia; in command of the Tiflis sector in combating the 1903–5 tsarist measures and Tatar attacks. Returned to Erzerum after Ottoman constitution of 1908; elected a deputy in the Ottoman Parliament. Quitted Ottoman empire on outbreak of war; helped establish Russian–Armenian volunteer units. Became the Republic of Armenia's unofficial ambassador in Washington. A member of the revised delegation at the Paris peace conference April 1919. Took part in organising assassinations of Turkish leaders in 1921–2.

 

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ARPIARIAN, ARPIAR (Samsun 1852 – Cairo 1908) Educated Murad-Rapayelian school, Venice. Founded Arevelk ('East') newspaper in 1884, then Hairenik (both in Constantinople). Played major role in spreading liberal ideas in the vernacular. Also edited Masis, and contributed to Mshak. Joined Hunchak party. Arrested in Constantinople 1890 for alleged seditious activities. Left Constantinople for London 1896, where he edited Mart ('Battle') monthly 1897–1901. Became leader of the non-Marxist Verakazmial Hunchaks, along with Mihran Damadian, Mkho Shahen and others. Left London for Venice in 1901. To Cairo in 1905, where he edited Shirak and contributed to Lousaper. Assassinated in Cairo in 1908 by Hunchaks.

 

ARTSRUNI, GRIGOR (Moscow 1845 – Tiflis 1892) Educated Tiflis, Moscow and St Petersburg 1864, where fellow Armenians awoke national sentiment in him. Contributed to Meghou Hayastani ('Armenian Bee') and Haykakan Ashkharh ('Armenian World'). Strongly influenced by meeting Mikayel Nalbandian. To Europe in 1865, partly for health reasons and partly to pursue further education. Obtained degree at Heidelberg university in 1870. To Venice to study Armenian with the Mkhitarist Fathers. To Tiflis in 1871, where he founded Mshak ('Labourer') (1872), which he edited with intervals until his death. (Mshak continued until 1920.) Critical of conservative circles; defended idea of liberating Western Armenia.

 

ASHTARAKETSI, NERSES see NERSES V

 

ATABEKIAN, LEVON (Kusabad (Karabagh) 1875 – 1918) Educated Shushi, then Leipzig and Tübingen universities. Qualified as a doctor at Zurich. Returned to Transcaucasia; active member of Dashnak party, combating anti-Armenian policies of tsar. Left the Dashnaks in 1907 to join the Social Revolutionaries; established Armenian SR organisation. Jailed in 1909; freed in 1912. Member of Transcaucasian Commissariat and of Seim (1918), but did not participate, holding that it was an instrument of the Turks.

 

ATOM (Harutiun Shahrikian) (Shabin Karahisar 1860 – Ayash 1915) Higher education at the Galata Saray Lycée, Constantinople. Taught in his native town. Moved to Trebizond, where he narrowly escaped the massacre of 1895. Jailed; escaped to Batum and Tiflis. Qualified as lawyer there; worked for Mantashev of Baku. Became prominent leader of Dashnak party. Returned to Constantinople after 1908 constitution. Contributed to Azatamart ('Freedom Fighter') and other Dashnak papers. Member of Armenian National Assembly in Constantinople. Author of works on Ottoman empire and reforms. Killed during 1915 genocide.

 

AVETISIAN, MKRTICH (M. Terlemezian) (Van 1864 – Persian border 1896) Follower of M. Portugalian. Became leader of the Armenakans of Van in 1885. Organised and led the defence of Van (supported by armed men of all

 

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three political affiliations) in June 1896. He defended the population against government troops, but was himself killed with others in retreat to Persia.

 

AVIS see NURIJANIAN, AVIS

 

AZAT VOSTANIK (Melkon Mir Sakoyan) (d. 1913) Hunchak leader. Early collaborator with Paramaz. Nicknamed by the Turks sachli fedayi. One of the organisers of Van resistance, June 1896. Arrested and jailed. Freed on proclamation of Ottoman constitution, 1908. To the Caucasus, and then to Constantinople to study dentistry. Organised defence of Kayseri, April 1909. Joined the Turkish Red Crescent as dentist during Balkan war, 1912. To Van in 1913; assassinated by an Ittihadist.

 

BABAKHANIAN, ARAKEL see LEO

 

BABKEN SIUNI (Petros Parian) (Agn (Egin), nr Arabkir 1879 – Constantinople 1896) Educated in Constantinople. Became member of Dashnak party; expelled from school for political activities. Led Ottoman Bank raid (August 1896); killed early on in the siege.

 

BAGHRAMIAN, Marshal IVAN (Hovhannes) Kh. (Chartakhlu, Azerbaijan, 1897–) Educated Tiflis. Volunteered in 1915 in Russian army. Bolshevik. Fought for Sovietisation of Lori and Georgia (1921). Commander of the First Armenian Cavalry Brigade 1923–31. At the Frunze military Academy 1931–4. On outbreak of second world war in Kiev from where he effected a skilful withdrawal (winter 1941). Commander First Baltic front in Byelorussia and East Prussia (June–October 1944). Promoted to marshal in 1955; deputy defence minister of the USSR under Khrushchev; member of the Central Committee CPSU, 1961. Memoirs published in Moscow in 1971.

 

BAGHRAMIAN, MOVSES Born Karabagh; settled in Madras. Tutor of Hakob Shahamirian, son of a merchant. Published in 1772 A New Tract, Entitled Admonishment, saying that progress was impossible without political freedom.

 

BEKZADIAN, ALEXANDER (Shushi 1881 – 1937) Educated Kiev. Social Democrat from 1901, siding with the Bolsheviks. Member of Baku Committee 1904–5. In Europe 1906–14; took part in a Bolshevik conference in Paris in 1911 under the leadership of Lenin. Member of the Bolshevik delegation at the Basle congress, 1912. Returned to the Caucasus in 1915. Engaged in party work after 1917; member of the illegal Transcaucasian district party committee 1919–20. In Moscow at signing of treaty of Moscow, 16 March 1921, but did not sign it. Member of Revkom that declared Armenia Soviet in November 1920. Foreign minister of the Armenian SSR 1920–1.

 

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Transcaucasian minister of trade, then finance. Member of the presidium of the Transcaucasian party committee from late 1930. Soviet ambassador in Norway. Victim of Stalin/Beria purges.

 

BEZDJIAN, HARUTIUN Amira (1771–1834) Born Constantinople. Educated at the cathedral school. Entered employment of Duzian family (controller of Ottoman state mint) in 1802. Saved his boss's life from the Janissaries. On the death of Hovhannes Duzian, became head of Ottoman mint. Managed to prevail upon the sultan to abandon plan of exiling 3,000 Armenians into interior of Anatolia. Benefactor to Armenian community in Constantinople; founded Surp Prgich (Holy Saviour) hospital at Yedikule in 1832. Secured various rights for Armenians in Jerusalem. Buried in the Armenian cathedral of Constantinople, on orders from the sultan.

 

BOGHOS NUBAR PASHA (Alexandria 1851 – Paris 1930) Son of Nubar Pasha, three times prime minister of Egypt. (Family originated from Karabagh.) Educated Egypt and France. Engineer and public works civil servant in Egypt: worked on Cairo water supply and irrigation in the Sudan. One of the founders of Heliopolis. In 1906 founded with others the Armenian General benevolent Union, of which he remained president until 1928. Appointed by the Catholicos in 1912 to be head of an Armenian delegation in Paris to co-ordinate pro-Armenian activities and publicise the Armenian case. To London in September 1916 to be told where he fitted into the Sykes–Picot plan. In 1918 Boghos Nubar helped set up the largely Armenian Légion d'Orient. In 1919 he became president of the Armenian delegation at the Paris peace conference, representing Western Armenians; despite friction with the Republic's delegation, the two achieved a working relationship. Retired from politics in 1921, concentrating on welfare and construction. Boghos Nubar remained in Paris until his death in 1930.

 

BOYADJIAN, HAMPARTSUM see MURAD

 

BOYADJIAN, MARDIROS see ZHIRAIR

 

BZHISHKIAN, HAIK see GAI

 

CHARENTS, YEGHISHE (Y. Soghomonian) (Kars 1897–1937) Born to a family which had migrated to Kars from Maku. Educated Kars and Tiflis. First poem published 1912. Briefly with Armenian volunteers at the outbreak of the 1914–18 war. To Moscow in 1915; joined Red Army in 1917. Fought at Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad), November 1917. To Yerevan in 1919, as a teacher. His experiences gave the poetry power and directness. Published in 1921 The Cats and I. To the Lazarian Institute 1921. Published in 1922 a manifesto to take poetry out of the closets and on to the streets. Published the Charentsnameh in

 

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1923; also Yerkir Nayiri ('The Land of Nairi'). Met Osip Mandelshtam in 1930; published Epikakan Lousapats ('Epical Dawn') in same year, and Girk Chanaparhi ('Book of the Road') in 1933. Denounced as a Trotskyite in 1933; more serious denunciations in 1934. To Moscow in 1935; defended Pasternak. Jailed 1936; died in prison following year. Rehabilitated in a speech by Anastas Mikoyan in Yerevan, 11 March 1954. Much translated within the USSR.

 

CHELLO (Toros Dzarugian) (Gurun 1871–1893) Educated Yozgat, under Zhirayr. Joined Hunchak party; fought as a fedayi in Anatolia. Arrested and hanged in 1893.

 

CHERAZ, MINAS (Khaskugh (Hasköy), Constantinople 1852 – Marseilles 1929) Educated Constantinople. Became editor of Yerkragound ('Globe') in 1870. Member of Armenian National Assembly. As secretary-general of the Armenian patriarchate he went to Berlin as part of the Armenian delegation, in 1878. Principal of leading Armenian school in Constantinople, 1886–9. Forced to flee in 1889; passed through Russian Armenia, eventually coming to London, where he founded the monthly L'Arménie. After 1898 he continued its publication in Paris. Returned to Constantinople after the 1908 revolution; elected president of the Armenian National Assembly. To Paris again in 1910; to Marseilles in 1918 for health reasons.

 

CHILINGARIAN, ARTASHES see DARBINIAN, RUBEN

 

CHOBANIAN, ARSHAG (Constantinople 1872 – Paris 1954) Educated Constantinople. Writer, translator and political figure (Ramkavar). To Paris in 1893 where he met a number of French writers, including Daudet and Zola. Returned to Constantinople in 1894 as editor of Dsaghik ('Flower'). Left Constantinople for Paris again at end of 1895, at height of Hamidian terror. Published Anahid 1909–11 and 1929–49. With Boghos Nubar in the National Delegation at the Paris peace conference, 1919. Visited Yerevan in 1933. Killed in a car crash in Paris.

 

DAGHAVARIAN, Dr NAZARET (Sivas 1862 – Ayash 1915) Parents settled in Constantinople, where he was educated. To Paris, to study agricultural methods. Returned 1883; headmaster first of school in Sivas, then Constantinople. Back to Paris in 1887, to study medicine at the Sorbonne. In Constantinople again, was arrested and held for four months in 1896. Chief consultant at Armenian National Hospital, Constantinople, in 1899. Jailed again 1900; released through French intervention. Still persecuted, forced to seek refuge in French hospital. To Marseille; in 1905 to Cairo. One of the founders of the Armenian General Benevolent Union in 1906. Returned to Constantinople after 1908 revolution; deputy for Sivas in Ottoman Parliament.

 

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A founder both of the Ottoman Itilaf party, and the Armenian Sahmanadrakan Ramkavar (Constitutional Democrat) party, 1908. Arrested 24 April 1915; murdered soon after in the genocide.

 

DAMADIAN, MIHRAN (Constantinople 1863 – Cairo 1945) Born to an Armenian Catholic family. Early education at the school of the Viennese Mkhitarists, Pangalti (Constantinople), and at school of S. Hagop. Then to the Murad Rapayelian school, Venice, graduating in 1880. Returned to Constantinople; became a teacher. Principal of an elementary school in Moush, 1884–8. His first-hand experience of Armenian conditions persuaded him to become a revolutionary in 1886. Returned to Constantinople; joined the Hunchak party. One of the main participants in the Kum Kapu Affray, July 1890. Escaped to Athens, contacted other anti-Ottoman revolutionaries; took part in a demonstration in Athens, July 1891. Returned to Sasun in disguise; organised some Armenians into a guerrilla band. Prepared for British consul at Erzerum a report on Armenian conditions. Arrested in May 1893; taken to Constantinople, where he was amnestied (1894). In Constantinople during the Bab Ali demonstration. Then on orders from the party he fled to Bulgaria. On to Romania; arrested; put aboard a Romanian vessel bound for Constantinople. Saved by the British ship's captain who, mistaking him for a fellow freemason, hid him and dropped him off at Piraeus, Greece. Then to London for the first Hunchak general congress, held in Frithville Gardens, Shepherds Bush (September 1896). To Alexandria, on party work. Resigned from the party after disputes; but in 1908 founded the Sahmanadrakan Ramkavar (Constitutional Democrat) party by uniting the Armenakans with part of the Verakazmial (reformed) Hunchaks. Planned an armed attack on Cilicia in 1913; dissuaded by Catholicos Sahak II of Cilicia. In the USA and Europe (mostly Paris) during the first world war. Associated with the Armenian National Delegation of Boghos Nubar Pasha after the war; its representative in Adana 1919–20. Installed himself in the governor's office and proclaimed himself governor of Cilicia under French mandate, 5 August 1920; forced out the same day. Became leader of the Ramkavar Azatakan party from its foundation in 1921. In Beirut 1929–37; member of AGBU committee; one of the founders of Zartonk ('Awakening') newspaper, 1937. Retired to Cairo, where he died a member of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

 

DARBINIAN, RUBEN (Artashes Chilingarian) (Akhalkalak 1883 – Boston 1968) Parents moved to Ekaterinodar in his childhood. Educated Tiflis and Ekaterinodar. To Moscow university in 1903 to study law; further study in Germany. Member of Dashnak party; in 1906 president of its North Caucasus Central Committee. Forced to flee in 1909; to Constantinople, where he wrote for Azatamart. Returned to Tiflis 1914; on to Baku as editor of Dashnak papers. To Moscow with Simon Hakobian in 1918 to try to secure Bolshevik aid against Turks besieging Baku; met with hostility when news of the murder

 

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of the 26 commissars reached Moscow. To Yerevan in 1919; minister of justice in early 1920 in Khatisian's government. Editor of Dashnak party organ Harach. Tried to flee the approach of the Bolsheviks; apprehended and jailed. Released by the February 1921 Dashnak rebellion; editor of Azat Hayastan ('Free Armenia'). Escaped the return of the Bolsheviks by going to Tabriz. Eventually settled in Boston, where he assumed editorship of Hairenik (March 1922). Began publication of Hairenik Amsagir ('Hairenik Monthly'), recording memoirs of Dashnaks when they held power. Advocated strong anti-Russian stance. Editor from 1948 of Hairenik newspapers, taking a severe attitude towards Ramkavars.

 

DAVITIAN, YEPREM see YEPREM KHAN

 

DJAMALIAN, ARSHAK (Yelizavetpol (Gandja) 1882 – Paris 1940) Educated locally and at Echmiadzin seminary. Joined Dashnak party. Took part in Armeno–Tatar conflict; jailed for 7 months for being party to assassination of tsarist gendarme. To Germany for further study. Returned to Transcaucasia 1909; became editor of Harach at Tiflis. Member of Dashnak Bureau 1914; organiser of the volunteer groups. Fought in Van region, alongside Anastas Mikoyan. Member of Transcaucasian Seim, 1917; delegate at signing of Erzindjan truce. To Berlin, to see if Germany would act as moderating influence on Turkey. Armenia's ambassador in Tiflis after May 1918. To Yerevan 1919; became Member of Parliament. Minister of Communications in 1920. Extended the railway. Signed agreement of 10 August 1920 ending Armeno–Bolshevik hostility in Sharur and Nakhichevan. To Tiflis, Constantinople and USA after Armenia's Sovietisation. Participated in the 1921 Riga talks between Dashnaks and Communists. Represented Dashnaktsutiun at the 1925 (Marseilles) meeting of the Second International. On editorial board of Droshak 1925–33. Member of the party's Bureaux until 1933. Helped establish an 'Armeno–Georgian union' in 1936. Travelled on party work in Greece, Egypt and Lebanon. Died in Paris.

 

DRO (Drastamat Kanayan) (Igdir 1884 – Boston 1956) Educated Yerevan Gymnasium. Attended military school. Joined Dashnak party. Very active in 1903–5; with others assassinated Prince Nakashidze and General Alikhanov; fought the Tatars in Zangezur. Fled to Turkey after proclamation of constitution in 1908. Returned to Transcaucasia in 1914; one of the commanders of the volunteer units. Wounded; decorated by the tsar. In 1917 appointed by the Armenian National Council military commissar of the Ararat region. Defended the Bash Abaran defile during the battle of Sardarabad, May 1918. With Aram organised the dictatorship of Armenia until the government arrived in July 1918. Commander of the front during Armeno–Georgian war, December 1918. In early and mid-1920 commander of the Surmalu front. Minister of war in Vratsian's government, November 1920. When H. Terterian signed

 

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agreement on hand-over of power to Bolsheviks. Became dictator of Armenia until arrival of Soviet forces. To Moscow 1921; received amicably by Stalin. Later to Paris; settled in Romania. Co-operated with the Nazis on the Crimean and north Caucasian fronts during the second world war, commanding an Armenian battalion; supporters claim that this was to ensure the survival of Armenians, should the Nazis reach Armenia; opponents claim that he acted out of Nazi sympathies. Arrested at Heidelberg by the Americans at the end of the war; released after one month as an 'old exile'. Settled in Lebanon, making frequent trips to Egypt, Europe and the USA. To America for medical treatment in December 1955; died in Boston 8 March 1956.

 

DSERENTS (Dr Hovsep Shishmanian) (Constantinople 1822 – Tiflis 1888) Educated San Lazzaro, Venice. Returned to teach at Armenian school in Ortaköy (Constantinople). To Tiflis; travelled in Russian Armenia (1843). To Paris in 1848 to study medicine and to teach at the Samuel Muradian school there. Returned to Constantinople in 1853 as a doctor. Wrote in Armenian journals and participated in Armenian organisations such as the Benevolent Union; said by some to have taken part in the Zeitun revolt of 1862. Keen on improving condition of Armenians by introducing better agricultural methods. Settled in Cyprus in 1875; wrote historical romances.

 

DUMAN, NIKOL (Kishlak village, Khachen, Karabagh 1867 – Baku 1914) Attended the diocesan school of Shushi until 1887. Worked for two years in Shushi, then spent three years teaching in the North Caucasus. Joined the Dashnak party. To Tabriz in 1891, ostensibly as a teacher but with the real intention of becoming a revolutionary. To Salmas in 1893; led a band of 50 men against Van in 1895, having several dust-ups with Kurds en route. Returning (May 1896) there were more skirmishes, notably at the Armenian monastery of Derik, just inside Persia. Arrested; soon released. Planned a punitive expedition against Kurds of the Mazrik tribe, who had served the sultan's ends in the Hamidiye regiments; this plan endorsed by Mikayelian in November 1896, and carried out at Khanasor, 24–5 July 1897. To Baku, where he worked for an oil company. Established a new guerrilla group in Persia in 1904, with the intention of going to Sasun; stopped at the border. At the time of the Armeno–Tatar clashes, he was initially despatched to Baku on party organisation and Armenian self-defence; then assigned to the Yerevan sector. Left Transcaucasia in 1909; successively to Constantinople, Egypt and Bulgaria. Participated in the Copenhagen conference of the Second International in 1910. To Trebizond, Erzerum and Van in late 1911. Banished from Van as a result of representations from the Russian consul. To Persia, where he participated in the Persian constitutional movement, fighting in the defence of Tabriz. Returned to Transcaucasia; contracted tuberculosis in Tiflis; taken from hospital and jailed in Metekh castle in May 1914. Then sent to Baku. Failed in a suicide attempt; died in Baku, September 1914.

 

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EMIN, HOVSEP (Joseph) (Hamadan 1726 – Madras 1809) To Baghdad in 1731; to Isfahan in 1742; to Basra, thence to India. To England in 1751 as a deck-hand aboard the Walpole. Lodged at Wapping; endured the discomforts of beer-drinking to gain the respect of the common people. Became a porter at £8 per annum. Chanced to meet Edmund Burke; joined the Duke of Cumberland's regiment. Took part in the expedition against St Malo in 1758. Resolved to travel to Armenia; travelled thither in 1759 via Alexandretta and Aleppo. Returned to London; on to St Petersburg in 1761. In the service of King Heraclius of Georgia in 1763; took part in many plots, counter-plots and pseudo-plots in the Caucasus 1763–8. Travelled to Karabagh and Zangezur. Returned to India in 1768, in an attempt to raise money for a small army. Settled in Madras in 1773 and joined the group of patriotic Armenians there. Again in Persia in 1775; back to India in 1783. Thought by some to have been the co-author of Vorogait Parats. His autobiography was published (in English) in London 1792.

 

GAFAVIAN, ARSHAK see KERI

 

GAI (Haik Bzhishkian) (Tabriz 1887–1937) His father a schoolmaster, and member of the Hunchak party. The family moved to Tiflis in 1901. Attended the Nersesian Academy. Took part in revolutionary movement in 1903. One of those who attempted the life of Prince Golitsyn in 1905. Expelled from school; went to Baku to work as a labourer, and to write articles in Social Democratic papers. Exiled in 1912 to Astrakhan; amnestied at outbreak of war; he enrolled in the imperial army, and was sent to a military school in Tiflis. In 1915 he joined the Hunchak VIth volunteer troop; serving on the Turkish front he assumed command when his commander was killed. Decorated. In Moscow during February 1917 revolution. After October revolution participated in the defence of Moscow. In 1918 led forces formed by himself against the White Czechs and White Cossacks. Commanded the 24th Rifle Division; took Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) for the Reds; his forces given the title 'Samara–Ulyanovsk Iron Division'. In 1919 commanded the First Army of the Eastern Front; later commanded the Southern Front. During the Soviet–Polish war of 1920 he commanded the 3rd Mounted Corps with distinction, reaching the Vistula. In August, covering the retreat of the 4th Army, he was cut off and interned in East Prussia. Highly decorated. To general staff academy in Moscow after the civil war, graduating in 1922, upon which he was appointed commissar for military affairs in Armenia. Organised Armenian Red Army. To Moscow's Frunze military academy 1925–7. Professor and head of military history department at the Zhukovsky air force academy 1933. Killed by NKVD agents 'while resisting arrest' on 11 December 1937. Posthumously rehabilitated.

 

GAREGIN I, Catholicos (G. Hovsepiants) (Nakhichevan 1867 – Antilias

 

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1952) Attended Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin. Ordained deacon in 1890. To Leipzig in 1892 to study theology. Received degree in 1897; returned to Echmiadzin; ordained celibate priest. To Tiflis in 1900, where came into intellectual contact with Hovhannes Tumanian, Shirvanzade, Nikol Aghbalian and others. Headmaster of the Yerevan diocesan school, 1901–4. Dean of Echmiadzin seminary 1905. Counsellor to Catholicos Mateos Izmirlian 1909–11. Travelled in Armenian communities of Russia 1916–17. Consecrated bishop in 1917. Took part in the battle of Sardarabad (1918). In Kars at the time of its fall (November 1920). Member of Armenia's institute of science following Sovietisation; contributed to its journal Banber ('Messenger'). Toured Armenian communities in Soviet Russia in 1924 to raise money for the seminary. Elected primate of Armenians of Russia, Crimea and Nor Nakhichevan in 1927. Delegated by the Catholicos to visit Europe and the USA in 1934 to try to heal the wounds which followed the murder of Archbishop Ghevond Tourian in 1933. Primate of the Armenians of North America 1938–43. Elected Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia (at Antilias, Lebanon) in May 1943. Took up the post in 1945. Leader of a delegation representing Cilician sees at the election of the Catholicos at Echmiadzin (June 1945). Took part in the consecration of Catholicos Gevorg VI; initiated period of co-operation between Echmiadzin and Antilias. Encouraged cultural and intellectual activities at Antilias; author of over 30 books. Died at Antilias.

 

GAREGIN II, Co-adjutor Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia (Kessab 1932–) Baptismal name Nshan Sargisian. Educated locally, and at the seminary at Antilias (from 1946). Ordained deacon in 1949. Ordained vardapet, taking the name Garegin, in 1952. Appointed dean of the Antilias seminary in 1957. To Oxford university 1957–9; his B.Litt. thesis, 'The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church', was published by SPCK. Director of the Antilias seminary, and editor of its journal, 1959–67. Consecrated bishop in 1964. Appointed chancellor of the Cilician catholicosate 1969–71. Attended seminars in Romania and Moscow (at the Zagorsky monastery), both in 1969; has attended, as observer or participant, theological congresses in Rome (Vatican II), Montreal, Addis Ababa and London. Member of the executive committee, World Council of Churches, 1970–7. Prelate of the New Julfa–Isfahan diocese 1971–3. Prelate of North America (representing Cilician catholicosate based at New York 1974–7. Elected co-adjutor Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, 1977.

 

GEVORG V, Catholicos (G. Sureniantz) (Tiflis 1846 – Echmiadzin 1930) Educated locally and at Echmiadzin seminary. Rose in Church hierarchy, eventually being elected Catholicos in 1911. In co-operation with Russian viceroy Vorontsov-Dashkov established the Armenian National Delegation in Paris, in 1912. Remained in Echmiadzin in the critical days of May 1918,

 

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against the advice of the military authorities. Reorganised Armenian ecclesiastical procedures May 1926.

 

GEVORG VI, Catholicos (G. Cheorekjian) (Nor Nakhichevan 1869 – Echmiadzin 1954) Educated locally and Gevorgian Seminary, Echmiadzin. Taught at Nor Nakhichevan. To Leipzig to study theology and philosophy; he also attended the Conservatoire there. Returned first to Echmiadzin then to Nor Nakhichevan, teaching music, Church history and ethics until 1913. Ordained celibate priest in 1913. To Echmiadzin, in 1916, to assist in relief work. Consecrated bishop in 1917. Worked largely in Georgia during the 1920s. In 1938, upon the death of Catholicos Khoren, he was appointed locum tenens. Supported Soviet authorities during the second world war; condemned Dro for working with the Nazis. Encouraged donations to build Sasuntzi Davit tank corps. To Moscow in April 1945 to meet Stalin. Elected Catholicos in June. Appealed to world powers for retrocession of Kars and Ardahan. Re-established seminary at Echmiadzin.

 

GHAZARIAN, ARMENAK see HRAIR

 

GHUKASIAN, GHUKAS (Kalaran, Yerevan province, 1899 – Kars 1920) Became Marxist while a student. Joined the Bolsheviks in 1917. In 1919 he represented Armenian Bolshevik youth at convention of Spartak youth organisation at Tiflis. Sent to Kars in February 1920 to prepare for May uprising. Killed in battle with the authorities on 14 May.

 

GIULKHANDANIAN, ABRAHAM (nr Yerevan 1875 – Paris 1946) Educated Echmiadzin seminary. Went on to study law. Joined Dashnak party in 1894. Active in Baku region, especially during Armeno–Tatar conflicts of 1905. Arrested by the authorities, and briefly jailed. Among the organisers of the volunteer units in 1914. Worked with Rostom during 1917–18. Member of Armenian Parliament; minister of information and posts in Khatisian's government; also minister of justice. In Khatisian's delegation that signed the treaty of Alexandropol, December 1920. To Romania after Sovietisation of Armenia; afterwards to Paris. During the second world war he was vice-president of the 'Armenian National Council' in Berlin which came to an agreement with the Nazis. Arrested by the French on the termination of the war. Died 1 January 1946. Author of books on the Caucasus, the Armeno–Tatar conflict, Armenian revolutionary women, etc.

 

HOVHANNESIAN, SERGEI see ARAM

 

HOVSEPIANTS, GAREGIN see GAREGIN I

 

HRAIR (Armenak Ghazarian) (Aharonk, Sasun 1864–1904) Educated S. Karapet school and Moush central school. Became a teacher. Some

 

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revolutionary activity in Sasun, 1891–3. Active in 1894 Sasun rebellion. To Transcaucasia, where he joined the Dashnak party. Travelled to Romania on party business. Severely critical of internecine struggles of Armenian armchair revolutionaries; believed in co-operation of all Armenian fighters. Chief Dashnak agent in Moush, Sasun, Bitlis and Akhlat, 1895–1904; the chief spirit of the 1904 Sasun rebellion. 'Hrair' means 'man of fire'. His other revolutionary soubriquets were D'zhokhk ('the hell') and Ourvakan ('the ghost').

 

ISAHAKIAN, AVETIK (Alexandropol 1875 – Yerevan 1957) Educated locally and at the Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin. To Europe (Vienna and Leipzig) in 1893 for further study. Returned home in 1895. On a second visit to Europe (1899) he met Father Alishan in Venice. A lyric poet, also influenced by the bards of earlier centuries. Joined Dashnak party; arrested in 1908 and jailed for six months. His masterpiece, Abul Ala al-Maari, was published in 1909. He left for Europe in 1912. Quit the Dashnak party. Returned to Soviet Armenia in 1926; respected there, and called 'the master'. Left again for Paris in 1930, returning permanently to Yerevan in 1936. Participated in the conclave which elected Catholicos Gevorg VI in 1945.

 

ISAKOV, Admiral IVAN (Hovhannes) (Hadjikend, near Kars, 1894–1968) on the death of his father Stepan Ter Isahakian the family moved to Tiflis. At naval school during the first world war. Demonstrated for the Bolsheviks at Petrograd; transferred. Sent to the Caspian sea by Lenin in 1920; took part in the civil war. Chief of the naval section of the supreme staff of the Red Army in 1929. Deputy minister of Soviet naval building in 1938. During the second world war took part in naval operations in Baltic and North seas; in 1942 served in the Black Sea; wounded. Appointed a deputy minister of the fleet; retired in 1947, but re-appointed in 1954. Appointed admiral of the Soviet fleet in 1955. Elected corresponding member of the Soviet academy of sciences in 1958.

 

ISHKHAN (Nikoghayos Poghosian) (Karabagh 1879 – nr Van 1915) Educated Shushi. Joined Dashnak party; active first in Shushi district. One of the leaders of the Khanasor expedition, 24–5 July 1897. From 1905 in Van. Contributed to Ashkhatank ('Labour', Van). Treacherously murdered with three companions when investigating (at the behest of the Ottoman governor) a local trouble near Van in mid-April 1915.

 

IZMIRLIAN, MATEOS (Constantinople 1848 – Echmiadzin 1911) Ordained a celibate priest in 1869. Primate of the Armenians of Egypt 1886–90. Returned to Constantinople in 1890; elected Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, in 1894; known as the Iron Patriarch; supported the Armenian revolutionary movement. Exiled to Jerusalem by the Ottoman authorities in 1896; returned

 

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to Constantinople in 1908 on the proclamation of the constitution; re-elected patriarch (1908–9). In 1908 he was also elected Catholicos of all Armenians at Echmiadzin (as Mateos II) in which post he served from 1909 until his death.

 

KACHAZNUNI, Ruben HOVHANNES (Akhaltsikhe 1868 – ?Yerevan 1938) His family originated from Erzerum. Attended Russian and German universities, studying architecture and mining engineering. Settled in Baku; joined the Dashnak party. Published a work on poets of eastern Armenia (1902). Visited Erzerum after Ottoman constitution (1908). Criticised establishment of volunteer units (1914). After 1917, he was a member of the Armenian National Council; in November one of nine Dashnaks chosen to represent the party in the new Constitution Assembly, Petrograd. Chief spokesman for Dashnaktsutiun in the Transcaucasian Seim (February–May 1918). A member of the Transcaucasian delegation at the Trebizond conference (March). Minister of welfare in Chkhenkeli's government (Transcaucasian). After Armenia's independence, he was a member of the delegation that signed the treaty of Batum (4 June 1918). Appointed first prime minister of Armenia, arriving in Yerevan on 17 July. Criticised by hard-line Dashnaks for his conciliatory policies. Travelled to Europe and America in April–May 1919 (together with a Populist minister) to obtain funds and aid. Relinquished premiership of Khatisian, August 1919. Approached to take premiership again in November 1920; accepted, but unable to form a government. Arrested after Sovietisation; released by February revolt. Left Armenia for Europe in 1921. Published manifesto at a Dashnak convention, Bucarest, March 1923, entitled Dashnaktsutiun has Nothing More to Do, in which he argued that Dashnaktsutiun should terminate its existence as a party and all Armenians should support Soviet Armenia. Repatriated to Soviet Armenia and worked there; killed during Stalin/Beria purges.

 

KAMAR KATIBA (Rapayel Patkanian) (Nor Nakhichevan 1830–1892) To Moscow in 1840 to study at the Lazarian Institute. To Tiflis in 1850 to assist his father in the publication of the weekly Airarat, which he had started. To the university of Dorpat (modern Tartu, Estonia) in 1851, but left the following year owing to shortage of funds. To Moscow; helped organise Armenian literary club (1854) which became known acronymically as Kamar Katiba, later becoming his own pen name. To St Petersburg in 1855; received degree in oriental studies in 1860. Contributed to Hiusisapayl ('Northern Light') and Krounk ('Crane'). Published his own paper Hiusis ('North') 1863–4. Returned to Nor Nakhichevan in 1866; devoted himself to education in Rostov and Bessarabia. In his poetry he advocated that Armenians make a new start, minimising the past. His poems express the exaltation felt by Armenians at the crushing of the Ottoman armies by those of Russia in 1877–8, and bitterly echo the disillusion and gloom felt after the Berlin settlement. He visited Constantinople in 1890.

 

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KAMO (Simon Ter-Petrosian) (Gori 1882 – Tiflis 1922) His father a rich contractor. A mischief-maker as a boy. Learnt less than nothing at school, forgetting what he had known beforehand. Expelled in 1898. Sent to Tiflis to study; coached by Stalin. Nicknamed 'Kamo' from his ignorance of Russian ('kamu' means 'to whom'). Joined the secret Social Democrat organisation of Tiflis in 1902. In February 1903 hurled seditious leaflets from the balcony of the Tiflis Armenian theatre into the orchestra, calmly leaving before the police arrived to search all other members of the audience. Arrested for carrying revolutionary literature in November 1903; spent four months in solitary confinement; contracted malaria; escaped while convalescing (September 1904). Wounded five times during 1905 revolution. To St Petersburg in March 1906, where he met Lenin. Leader of the Caucasian 'expropriators' from 1903, his activities culminating in the raid on the state bank of Tiflis, 13 June 1907, which netted 250,000 roubles for the Bolsheviks. Took the money to St Petersburg disguised as a Georgian nobleman. Fled to Berlin; betrayed by an agent provocateur in November 1907, arrested and imprisoned; feigned extreme insanity in order to avoid repatriation. Successfully hoaxed Berlin's leading psychiatrists. After four months of raving in his cell, transferred to an asylum (May 1908). Handed over to the Russians in October 1909; imprisoned in Metekh castle, then moved to Tiflis asylum. Escaped in August 1911, foiling subsequent police search by hiding in the police administration building, Tiflis. To Constantinople, then Paris (where he again met Lenin); returned to Tiflis in late 1912. Arrested after another hold-up (January 1913); sentenced to death March 1913; amnestied, because of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. His sentence commuted to 20 years' hard labour. To Kharkov in 1915. Released in March 1917. Sent by Shahumian to Petrograd with correspondence for Lenin, December 1917; returned to Tiflis with Shahumian's appointment as extraordinary commissar. To Astrakhan by boat in 1919. Formed a partisan group which operated near Kursk and Oryol. Arrested by Mensheviks in Tiflis, January 1920; briefly jailed. To Baku in March 1920 to prepare its Sovietisation. To Moscow in May 1920; worked in foreign trade ministry. Returned to Tiflis, working in finance commissariat. Died in a road accident in Tiflis, July 1922. The town formerly known as Nor Bayazid now bears his name.

 

KANAYAN, DRASTAMAT see DRO

 

KARAKHAN, LEV (Levon) (Kutaisi province 1889–1937) Social Democrat (Bolshevik) from 1904. Studied law at St Petersburg university 1910–15. Active in trade union movement from 1912. Arrested autumn 1915; exiled to Tomsk. Member of the Petrograd Soviet, and of the Petrograd military-revolutionary committee in 1917. A diplomat after the Bolshevik revolution. Secretary and member of the Soviet delegation at Brest-Litovsk, 1918. Soviet deputy foreign minister in March 1918. Negotiated treaties with China

 

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(September 1920), Persia (December 1920 – January 1921); appointed Soviet ambassador to Poland in August 1921, and to China (1923–6). Again Soviet deputy minister of foreign affairs in 1927. Ambassador to Turkey, 1934–7. Sentenced to death on 16 December 1937 on trumped-up charges of terrorism and espionage. Later rehabilitated.

 

KASIAN, SARGIS (S. Ter-Gasparian) (Shushi 1876–1937) Educated in Baku. Higher education in Berlin and Leipzig; became interested in German Social Democrat movement. Initially a member of the Hunchak party; sent with its representative to the Dresden meeting of the German Socialist party, 1903. Joined Bolsheviks in 1905. Exiled to Siberia before the first world war; returned to Tiflis in 1917. Fought the Turkish advance in 1918. Went to Yerevan in July 1919 to tighten party organisation. President of the Revkom which on 29 November 1920 declared Armenia Soviet; minister of agriculture in the first Soviet government. Ousted by the February 1921 rebellion, and not replaced in April. Member of the presidium of the Central Committee of the Transcaucasian Communist party 1927–31. Victim of Stalinist purges; rehabilitated later on.

 

KAZAZIAN, HAGOP Pasha (Pera, Constantinople 1832–91) Educated locally. Initially a businessman, later entering the Ottoman civil service. Served principally as a banker. Also a member of the Armenian National Assembly, Constantinople. In 1879 appointed head of the sultan's privy purse; when this became a ministry, he became treasury minister. Showed great ability at raising Ottoman loans and easing payment of its debts. Died from a fall from his horse. Given a state funeral.

 

KELEGIAN, DIRAN (Kayseri 1862 – Ayash 1915) Parents settled in Constantinople when he was six months old. Educated locally; went to Marseilles in 1880 to study business administration. Wrote for Turkish newspapers Manzumiye Efkiar and Saadet ('Prosperity'), becoming managing editor of the latter. Left for Europe after the massacres of 1894–5; wrote articles for the Daily Mail, Daily Graphic, Contemporary Review and Nineteenth Century. Returned to Constantinople in 1898; wrote for Sabah ('Morning'; Turkish). Left Constantinople again, for Egypt, where he worked on the editorial staff of the Journal de Caire, then as editor of La Bourse égyptienne. Also worked on the Egyptian Gazette and Yeni Fikir ('New Idea'; Turkish). Returned to Constantinople after the constitutional revolution of 1908, to become editor of Sabah. Also wrote regularly for Armenian papers. Compiled a French–Turkish dictionary. Member of the Sahmanadrakan Ramkavar (Constitutional Democrat) party. Arrested 24 April 1915; murdered during the genocide.

 

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KERI (Arshak Gafavian) (Erzerum – Ruwanduz 1916) became member of the Dashnak party. Took part in 1904 Sasun rebellion, 1905 Armeno–Tatar conflict, and with Yeprem in Persian constitutional revolution, leading the Caucasian troops after the death of Yeprem. Commander of the 4th volunteer troop in 1914; took part in the battle of Sarikamish (at the Barduz pass). Relieved the besieged Russian and Armenian troops at Ruwanduz in 1916 by a daring and successful attack, in which he was killed. His body was transferred to Tiflis and buried there.

 

KEVORK CHAVUSH (Moush province c. 1870 – Sulukh 1907) Elementary education at S. Garabed monastery 1876–8. Left school to join Arapo and fedayis; Arapo arrested; Kevork assassinated Arapo's betrayer. Became an associate of Murad (H. Boyadjian) and M. Damadian in 1892. Arrested in 1894; sentenced to 15 years in jail. Escaped; joined Dashnak part; served under Serop, Gurgen and Andranik. Participated in 1904 Sasun uprising; a leading fedayi until his death.

 

KHAN-AZAT, RUBEN (Nshan Karapetian) (Yerevan 1862 – Tabriz 1929) Higher education at the University of Montpellier. One of the six founders of the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party at Geneva. To Tiflis in 1890, in an abortive attempt to found another branch of the party. Travelled throughout Ottoman lands and Transcaucasia on party work. To the USA in 1893 on the same mission.

 

KHANDJIAN, AGHASI (Van 1901 – Tiflis 1936) The son of an Armenakan leader. The family took refuge from the 1915 massacres in the monastery at Echmiadzin. He entered the Echmiadzin seminary, then to Yerevan school. Joined a Marxist youth group in 1918; one of the founders of the Spartak Bolshevik youth organisation in 1919. Arrested twice by the authorities of the republic. To Sverdlov university (Russia) in 1921. Active in Leningrad 1922–8. Sided with Stalin against Zinoviev in 1925. Returned to Armenia in 1928; became First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Armenian CP in 1930. With the confidence of Stalin he purged Armenia of Old Bolsheviks, specifically Sargis Kasian. Crushed the opposition to collectivisation. Worked for retrocession of Karabagh and Nakhichevan to the Armenian SSR. Murdered by Beria in July 1936, due to the latter's suspicion and jealousy. Despite being Stalin's man in Armenia, he was genuinely popular with the peasants. Subsequently he has been rehabilitated.

 

KHANFERIANTS, ARMENAK see KHUDIAKOV, S. A.

 

KHAPAYAN, GABRIEL SEE SAHAK II

 

KHATISIAN, ALEXANDER (Tiflis 1876 – Paris 1945) His father was controller of the government estates in Tiflis province. Educated in Tiflis state

 

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school; then to Moscow university for 3 years to study medicine, and to Kharkov for 2 years. Further study in Germany. Political activities began in 1900. Counsellor to the administration of Tiflis 1902–6; assistant to the mayor of Tiflis 1906–10; mayor of Tiflis 1910 and 1917. President of the Armenian National Council 1915–17; chief organiser of the Armenian volunteers. Joined the Dashnak party in 1917. Member of Transcaucasian delegation at the Trebizond negotiations, March 1918. Minister of finance in Transcaucasian Cabinet. Delegate at the Batum conference, May 1918. Negotiated and signed the treaty of Batum, 4 June 1918. To Constantinople to revise the treaty at the insistence of Germany in the same month. Foreign minister June–November 1918. Minister of welfare briefly in November 1918 after assassination of Khachatur Karjikian; minister of the interior after the death of Aram. Acting prime minister spring 1919, during Kachaznuni's absence. Prime minister of Armenia, August 1919–May 1920. After relinquishing premiership, travelled to Tiflis, Constantinople, Paris, London, Rome and the Balkans soliciting aid for the republic. Chief negotiator at the Alexandropol conference, November–December 1920; signed the treaty of Alexandropol. Settled in Paris after Armenia became Soviet. Wrote Hayastani Hanrapetutian dsagumn ou zargatsumë ('The Origin and Development of the Armenian Republic' (1930, rev. edn. 1968)) and Kaghakapeti me hishataknerë ('The Memoirs of a Mayor'). During the second world war he worked for an Armenian refugee organisation. Arrested after the liberation of France; set free soon after. But his health had deteriorated. Died 10 March 1945.

 

KHRIMIAN 'Hairik', MKRTICH (Catholicos Mkrtich I) (Van 1820 – Echmiadzin 1907) Brought up by an uncle, who taught him weaving. Travelled to Echmiadzin in 1841. Married in 1845. Further travels, to Jerusalem, Constantinople and Cilicia (in 1851). After the death of his wife and daughter, ordained a celibate priest in 1854. Began publication of Ardzvi Vaspurakan (in Constantinople) in 1855. Returned to the Varak monastery as abbot in 1858; continued printing the journal there. As abbot of the monastery of S. Karapet, Moush, began another journal Ardzvik Darono in 1863. Consecrated bishop in 1868. Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, 1869–73; compelled to resign by the Ottoman government. At the instance of Patriarch Nerses Varzhabedian he travelled to Berlin with Archbishop Khoren Nar Bey, Minas Cheraz and Stepan Papazian in June 1878 to put the Armenian case to the congress; only permitted to submit a written memorandum. After the congress he travelled to Paris and London. Returning to Constantinople, he gave a famous sermon in the cathedral at Scutari comparing the 'iron spoons' of the Balkan peoples to the 'paper spoons' of the Armenians. Exiled to Jerusalem by the government in 1889. Elected Catholicos of all Armenians 17 May 1892; forbidden by the Ottomans to travel to Echmiadzin across Ottoman territory (so compelled to travel Jaffa–Alexandria–Trieste–Vienna–Volochinsk–Odessa–Sevastopol–Batum–Tiflis). Supported Dashnaktsutiun in his en-

 

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cyclical of 1896. Confronted by the tsarist seizure of the property of the Armenian Church, June 1903; reacted with patience. Patient, too, in 1906, when, at an assembly called to clarify Polozhenye, he was faced with anti-religious tirades. Clarified relations between the patriarch of Constantinople and the catholicoses in 1907, emphasising the 'primary, universal and apostolic see of Echmiadzin'.

 

KHUDIAKOV, Air Marshal S. A. (Armenak Khanferiants) (Karabagh 1906–1950) To Baku to study; then worked in Mantashev's oilfield. Joined the Bolsheviks. Organised Red Guards of Baku, April 1918. In Astrakhan during Russian civil war. Saved from drowning by his friend Sergei Khudiakov; when the latter was killed fighting the Whites, Khanferniants assumed his name as a memorial. Admitted to Tiflis Cavalry School 1929. To the Ukraine, and later to Moscow to the air force academy. Served mainly on the western front during the second world war, becoming an air marshal in 1944. Took part in the Yalta conference as a military adviser.

 

KOCHINIAN, ANTON (Yerevan province 1913–) Joined Communist youth in 1928, and the party in 1938. Graduated as agriculturalist in 1935. Mainly on party work until the second world war. Joined the Central Committee of the Armenian CP in March 1940. Third Secretary of the ACP 1946–52; appointed First Secretary in 1952. In November 1952 became prime minister of the Armenian SSR: also a member of the Supreme Soviet of Armenia and the USSR. Dropped from premiership in 1966, becoming First secretary of the ACP. Replaced in this post in November 1974.

 

KOMITAS (Soghomon Soghomonian) (Kutahya 1869 – Paris 1935) Orphaned at the age of 11. Taken by the local prelate to Echmiadzin seminary in 1881. Graduated from the seminary in 1893. Ordained celibate priest. To the Berlin conservatoire in 1896 to study music under Richard Schmidt; also attended the Friedrich Wilhelm university studying philosophy of music. Appointed choirmaster and head of music department at Echmiadzin seminary in 1899; became first non-European member of the International Musical Society. Collected more than 3,000 folk songs – Armenian, Kurdish, Arabic, Turkish and Persian (most subsequently lost). Gave concerts in Paris, Geneva, Berne, Venice, Constantinople, Cairo and Alexandria. Published first ever collection of Kurdish folk songs, 13 in number, Jurgensen, 1904. His song The Homeless was praised by Debussy, on hearing it in 1906, when Komitas visited Paris. Met Egon Wellesz in Vienna, who admired his harmony and counterpoint. Left for Constantinople in 1910, where he founded a choir of 300 voices named Kusan ('Minstrel'). Encountered some opposition from conservative religious circles for his use of religious melodies. Arrested 24 April 1915; deported to Chankiri; driven mad by the sight of the slaughter of fellow Armenians; saved from death. Put in an asylum in Constantinople in 1916;

 

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taken to Paris in 1919, where he died in 1935. His body was transferred to Yerevan in 1937.

 

LEO (Arakel Babakhanian) (Shushi 1860 – Yerevan 1935) Received patchy education, but read very widely; soon writing historical and political articles. Wrote in Mshak from 1895; became its editor in 1918. Opposed the policies and activities of Dashnaktsutiun; joined the Populist (Zhoghovrdakan) party on its formation in 1917. An adviser to the Seim delegation in the Trebizond negotiations with the Turks in March 1918. President of the Karabagh Armenian Patriotic Association 1918–20. Welcomed the formation of the Armenian SSR. His Hayots Patmutiun ('History of the Armenians') is famous (vol. I, Tiflis, 1917; vols. II–III, Yerevan, 1946–7).

 

LORIS-MELIKOV, General Count MIKAYEL T. (Tiflis 1825 – Nice 1888) Educated Lazarian Institute, Moscow. Joined a Hussar regiment. To the Caucasus in 1847; gained a distinguished reputation in bringing the region from military to civilian rule. (Fictionalised portrait of him in Tolstoy's Hadji Murat.) Commander in Russo–Turkish war of 1877–8; took Ardahan; repulsed by Ahmed Mukhtar at Zivin; defeated Mukhtar at Aladja; stormed Kars and laid siege to Erzerum. Received title of Count. Temporary governor of Lower Volga in 1879; great success in sustaining morale during an outbreak of plague, so he was transferred to combat nihilism and anarchism in central Russia. Appointed chief of supreme executive commission dealing with revolutionary activity; showed a preference for legal against extra- legal methods. Suggested striking at the root of the problem by introducing economic reforms. Came to the attention of tsar Alexander II in 1880, who appointed him minister of the interior (with exceptional powers). Proposed scheme of reforms; this was negated by the assassination of the tsar in March 1881. Loris-Melikov resigned under the reactionary policies of Alexander III; lived in exile until his death.

 

LUKASHIN, SARGIS (S. Sraponian) (1884–1937) Joined the Social Democrats (Bolsheviks). With Vahan Terian discussed Turkish Armenia with Lenin in November 1917. Member of Miasnikian's Cabinet of May 1921; president of the people's economic council and secretary of the Central Committee of the Armenian CP. Dropped from the latter post in February/March 1922, and appointed prime minister of Armenia. Transferred to Tiflis in 1925 to assume a position in the Transcaucasian SFSR. Victim of Stalinist purges; later rehabilitated.

 

MALKUM Khan, Mirza (New Julfa 1833 – Rome 1908) Educated at the Samuel Muradian school, Paris, 1843–51. Returned to Persia; converted to Shia Islam; entered government service. Selected as instructor in the newly established Tehran Polytechnic in 1852. To Paris in the diplomatic service in

 

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1857. Introduced freemasonry into Persia in 1859; exiled by Shah Nasir od-Din for doing so in 1862. Pardoned; given post in the Constantinople embassy. To Tehran in 1872 as assistant to Grand Vizier Moshir od-Dowlah. Chief of Persian legation in London (later ambassador) 1872–88; visited Berlin at the time of the congress (1878), advising Armenians to take an anti-Russian stance. Lost his position in 1889 as the result of a scandal over selling a cancelled concession for a lottery. Attacked the shah and Persian government from London; edited from 1890 the news-sheet Qanun, which was banned in Persia but read by the shah and his ministers. Became recognised as the most important Persian moderniser of the century. Pardoned and reinstated by Shah Mozaffar od-Din in 1898; appointed ambassador to Italy, with title of Nezam od-Dowlah. Remained at this post until his death.

 

MANUKIAN, ARAM see ARAM

 

MELIK-HAKOBIAN, HAKOB see RAFFI

 

MIASNIKIAN, ALEXANDER (Nor Nakhichevan 1886 – near Tiflis 1925) Educated Lazarian Institute, Moscow. Graduated from Moscow university's law faculty in 1911. Member of Social Democrat (Bolshevik) party 1906. Arrested; escaped to Baku; returned to Moscow. Enlisted in the Imperial army 1914; service largely on the western front. Head of the Bolshevik faction on the western front, early February 1917. With Frunze he founded the newspaper Zvezda in Minsk. In Minsk during the October Revolution; briefly acting supreme commander-in-chief, western front. In spring 1918 commander, Volga front. Minister of war in Byelorussia, 1919. In Moscow 1919–21, becoming secretary of the Moscow party committee. To Armenia after the suppression of the revolt of February–April 1921, as prime minister; had a fair measure of success in restoring law and order, fighting famine and epidemic, organising small-scale repatriation and rebuilding the country. An enemy of illiteracy. In his premiership the Transcaucasian Confederation was established (11 March 1922) out of the three republics; it later became the Transcaucasian SFSR. Presidium member of the USSR Central Executive Committee 1922. Author of political and literary works, including a volume on literary criticism. Died in a plane crash near Tiflis.

 

MIKAYELIAN, KRISTAPOR (Akulis, Zangezur 1859 – Mount Vitosh, Bulgaria 1905) Orphaned at the age of 10. From 1870 to 1880 at the state teacher-training institute, Tiflis. Wrote and distributed leaflet protesting at state closure of Armenian schools in 1885. To Moscow in 1885; attended the Piotrovsky agricultural academy. There he met Simon Zavarian and Rostom. Joined the Narodnaya Volya. Returned to the Caucasus without completing his studies in 1887; taught in Akulis and Tiflis 1887–90. Founded the Young Armenia society in 1889; this led to the foundation by Mikayelian, Rostom

 

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and Zavarian of Dashnaktsutiun in 1890. Mikayelian was exiled to Kishinev in 1891, whence he escaped to Romania. There he edited the party paper Droshak. Again in the Caucasus in 1892–8. Jailed for 6 months in 1895. Organised the Krasnodar expedition, 1897. To Geneva to edit Droshak 1898. Instrumental in gaining support of French intellectuals to publish Pro-Armenia (from 1900). From 1901 led the Potorik ('Storm') movement, which extorted money from rich Armenians to aid the national movement. After the decision of the third Dashnak congress to assassinate Abdul Hamid, he undertook the task, and was killed by his own bomb on Mount Vitosh, Bulgaria, in 1905.

 

MIKOYAN, ANASTAS (Sanahin 1895 – Moscow 1978) Born to a peasant family. Educated at the Nersesian Academy, Tiflis, and the Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin. Engaged in political activity while at school. Joined the Bolshevik party in 1915. Enlisted in Gen. Andranik's Armenian volunteer regiment. To Baku in 1917, where he met Stepan Shahumian. Served on staff of Armenian-language newspaper Sotsial-Demokrat: also edited Izvestia. With Shahumian in the Baku commune; Bolshevik spokesman when the elder Bolsheviks were in gaol. Led the commissars through Baku as the Turks were entering it, 14–15 September 1918. To Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky), 1920; in the same year to Baku, after the Sovietisation of Azerbaijan. In Rostov-on-Don 1922–6, as secretary of the North Caucasus party organisation. Member of the Central Committee of the party from 1923. Commissar for foreign trade, 1926; commissar for supplies, 1930; commissar for food, 1934–8. Minister of foreign trade 1938–49; minister of trade 1953–5. Member of the Politburo of the party's Central Committee from 1935. Survived attempts by Beria to have him purged in the 1930s (and the intense suspicion of Stalin's latter days). Member of state defence committee, 1942. Opposed Malenkov over dismantlement of German industry in 1945; became vice-chairman of the council of ministers, 1946. The first to denounce Stalin in 1956. Visited the US, Mexico and Japan 1959–61. Played a central role in settling the Cuban missile crisis. Attended the funeral of President John F. Kennedy 1963. Chairman of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet, 1964–5; Memoirs published 1970. Retired from all public life in 1974.

 

MOVSESIAN, AGHEKSANDR see SHIRVANZADE

 

MRAVIAN, ASKANAZ (Yelizavetpol (Gandsak) 1886–?1937) Educated at the Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin, and Yerevan diocesan school. Joined Yelizavetpol Social Democrats (Bolsheviks) in 1905. Sent to Armenia in July 1919 to establish a Communist organisation. Member of the Revkom which took power in Armenia in November 1920. Foreign minister of the Armenian SSR in May 1921. One of the signatories of the treaty of Kars. Minister of education, 1923. Liquidated during the purges; later rehabilitated.

 

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MURAD (Hampartsum Boyadjian) (Hadjin 1867 – Ayash 1915) Educated at his birthplace and at Constantinople, where he studied medicine. Further medical studies at Geneva. Joined the Hunchak party soon after its formation (1887). Active against the Ottoman government in the following year. The chief organiser of the Kum Kapu demonstration, July 1890. Escaped to Athens; thence to Transcaucasia. To Sasun in 1892 to encourage the people to resist the depredations of the Kurds. Again in Transcaucasia for much of 1893, returning to Khnus in the autumn. Leader of the Sasun revolt, 1894, after the arrest of Mihran Damadian. Murad was himself arrested and sentenced to death; foreign pressure commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. In Tripoli (Barbary) gaol for 12 years before escaping to France in 1904. To Egypt where, as a representative of the Hunchaks, he signed a document of reconciliation with Damadian (representing the Verakazmial Hunchaks), 24 November 1907