Murad Sebastatsi (Murad Khrimyan, aka Hakobyan; 1874 - August 4, 1918 ) - leader of the Armenian national liberation movement, Fidai .
| Murad Sebastatsi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | 1874 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | August 4, 1918 |
| Place of death | Azerbaijan |
| Affiliation |  Dashnaktsutyun |
| Battles / wars | Sasun revolt of 1904 Battle of Baku (1918) |
Biography
Born in the village of Kovtun, near Sivas , hence the nickname (unlike another famous Fidai , Metzn Murad ), in a poor peasant family. In childhood, grazing cattle. At the age of 16, he survived a skirmish with a Turkish gang (killing one of the robbers), after which he fled to Constantinople , where he worked as a loader and at the same time learned to read and write in Sunday school.
He joined the Hnchak party (later he joined the Dashnaktsutyun party). He took part in Armenian demonstrations of the early 1890s, then went to fidai .
In 1903, Mr .. arrived in Sasun, as part of the group "Torgoma" Mrrick ". He played a prominent role during the Sasun revolt of 1904 , being one of the leaders of the defense. After the fall of Helieguzan (April 22, 1904), Murad left Sasun, breaking through the Turkish ring and reaching Van .
During the Armenian-Tatar massacre of 1905-1906 in the Russian Transcaucasus, Murad was appointed head of the defense of Zangezur and, collecting a detachment of 50 horsemen, saved Kapan from the massacre [1] . He enjoyed great popularity among the Armenian peasants, having a reputation as a public defender.
After the Young Turk revolution of 1908, he acted in the Van district and in Sivas. In particular, he took part in organizing a network of schools, charitable and women's societies, and introduced joint education, physical education, and theatrical art in Armenian schools.
At the beginning of the deportation of Armenians in 1915, Murad Sebastatsi was in Sivas. The local wali signed a warrant for his arrest [2] . Murad took refuge in the mountains with a group of Armenians and began a guerrilla war against the Turks. In the fall of 1915, the Sebastatsi detachment moved to the Black Sea and joined with a group of Greek partisans. On the boat, Murad Sebastatsi, with some of his people, moved from Samsun to the Russian port of Batum (at the beginning of World War I, Russia announced an amnesty for Dashnaks). From there, Murad went to Tiflis, where he joined the 1st Armenian volunteer detachment as part of the Russian army. He took part in the battles on the Caucasian front. In the Tiflis press he published an article about his military affairs and the tragedy of the Armenians of Sivas. Sebastatsi was cited by Lord Bryce in his book, "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire."
In 1916, Murad Sebastatsi participated in the battle for Erzincan, and then led the Armenian administration in Erzincan occupied by the Russians, along with another well-known Fidean leader, Sepukh , and founded a fund to assist Armenian refugees and orphans. After the collapse of the Caucasian Front in 1918, he led the defense of Erzincan and organized the evacuation of the local Armenian population. On August 4, 1918 he was killed during the defense of Baku [3] [4] .
Notes
- ↑ Pavel Shekhtman. Flames of old fires
- ↑ Murad Meneshian, The Village of Govdun , in "Armenian Sivas and Lesser Armenia", ed. Richard G. Hovannisian, 2004.
- ↑ Mikayel Varandian, Murad of Sebastia, translated and edited with an introduction by Ara Ghazarians, Arlington, MA, Armenian Cultural Foundation, 2006.
- ↑ Murad Sebastatsi . genocide.ru .