Askanaz Harutyuni Mravyan ( hy, Ասքանազ Հարությունի Մռավյան, – October 23, 1929) was a Soviet

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

statesman and political activist. He was one of the early leaders of

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

Biography

Askanaz Mravyan was born on January 2, 1886, to an Armenian family in

Elizavetpol Ganja (; az, Gəncə ) is Azerbaijan's third largest city, with a population of around 335,600.Azərbaycan Respublikası. — 2. Azərbaycan Respublikasının iqtisadi və inzibati rayonları. — 2.4. Azərbaycan Respublikasının iqtisadi və ...

(present-day

Ganja, Azerbaijan Ganja (; az, Gəncə ) is Azerbaijan's third largest city, with a population of around 335,600.Azərbaycan Respublikası. — 2. Azərbaycan Respublikasının iqtisadi və inzibati rayonları. — 2.4. Azərbaycan Respublikasının iqtisadi və ...

). He joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...

in 1905 and worked as an activist of its

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

wing in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He graduated from the faculty of pedagogy of the Saint Petersburg Psychoneurological Institute in 1915. From 1915 to 1917, he edited the Armenian-language newspapers ''Paykar'' ("Struggle") and ''Banvori kriv'' ("Worker's Battle"). In 1918 Mravyan became the secretary of the Caucasian regional committee of the

Bolshevik party " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

and the editor of the newspaper ''Kavkazskaya pravda'' ("Caucasian Pravda"). As a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, Mravyan was one of the signatories of a secret decision made in September 1920 which called on the Armenian Bolsheviks to work to "speed up Armenia's defeat" in the

Turkish–Armenian War The Turkish–Armenian war ( hy, Հայ-թուրքական պատերազմ), known in Turkey as the Eastern Front ( tr, Doğu Cephesi) of the Turkish War of Independence, was a conflict between the First Republic of Armenia and the Turkish Na ...

and "dissolve the Armenian army by all means." He was one of the members of the six-man Revolutionary Committee of Armenia ("Hayheghkom"), which was founded in Baku in November 1920 and took leadership of Armenia after the establishment of Soviet rule in the country. From May 1921 to January 1922, he served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia. As People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of Soviet Armenia (19211923), he represented Armenia at the signing of the

Treaty of Kars The Treaty of Kars ( tr, Kars Antlaşması, rus, Карсский договор, Karskii dogovor, ka, ყარსის ხელშეკრულება, hy, Կարսի պայմանագիր, az, Qars müqaviləsi) was a treaty that est ...

, which established the current Turkish-Armenia border. From 1923 to 1929, he served as the People's Commissar of Education and deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (i.e., government) of Soviet Armenia. At the same time, he served as editor of ''Sovetakan Hayastan'' ("Soviet Armenia"), the official organ of Soviet Armenia. He died in Yerevan on October 23, 1929.

References

1885 births 1929 deaths Politicians from Ganja, Azerbaijan Communist Party of Armenia (Soviet Union) politicians Armenian atheists Foreign ministers of Armenia {{soviet-bio-stub