Avetik Hovhannesi Sahakian ( hy, Աւետիք Սահակեան; 1863–1933), also known as Father Abraham, was an Armenian politician, the Parliamentary President (speaker) of the

First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետութիւն), was the first modern Armenian state since the loss of Armenian statehood in the Middl ...

in 1918–19, the social security minister and member of ARF Dashnaktsutiun Eastern Bureau. He was also known as agricultural scientist.

Biography

Sahakian was born in Jalaloghly,

Tiflis Governorate The Tiflis Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire with its administrative center in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi). In 1897, it constituted 44,607 sq. kilometres in area and had a population ...

(present-day Stepanavan, Armenia). He was included in Western Armenian liberation activities (since 1898) and ARF Caucasian project. He married Varvara Sahakyan, who became one of the first three women elected to parliament in Armenia in 1919.Women's Suffrage: The Armenian Formula
Chai Khana He became Chairman of Parliament in 1918. Hovannisian describes Avetik Sahakian in The Republic of Armenia, Vol. II:

Avetik Sahakian, affectionately called “Father Abraham” in party circles, was at fifty-four the dean of the
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
. A native of Jalal-oghli and a graduate of the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy in Moscow, he had been employed in municipal and technical agencies in the Caucasus and had earned distinction for his work on control of the
boll weevil The boll weevil (''Anthonomus grandis'') is a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing ...
. He had been a member of the Dashnaktsutiun Bureau and several national bodies before the 1917 revolutions, then served as provisions minister in the Transcaucasian Federation, and, after moving to
Erevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and in ...
with many comrades in the summer of 1918, became a mainstay in the Khorhurd during the first trying months of Armenian independence.

Following the Bolshevik takeover of Armenia in 1920, Sahakyan was imprisoned. Following his release, the couple and their children fled on foot to

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

, before settling in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. However, the climate affected Varvara's health, and the family relocated to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

.Առաջին հանրապետության կին պատգամավորները
Women of Armenia He died in 1933.

Books

*Nersisian, Ashot. ''Aprogh herosner: Avetik Sahakian'', Yerevan, 2004 (in Armenian)

References

1863 births 1933 deaths Armenian nationalists People from Stepanavan People from Tiflis Governorate Armenian Revolutionary Federation politicians People of the First Republic of Armenia Ministers of Social Protection of the First Republic of Armenia {{Armenia-politician-stub