Hamo Ohanjanyan
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Hamazasp "Hamo" Ohanjanyan (; 1873 – 31 July 1947) was an Armenian doctor, revolutionary, and politician of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...
(ARF/Dashnaktsutiun). He served as the third
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
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 Middle ...
from May 5 to November 23, 1920.


Biography

Hamo Ohanjanyan was born in 1873 in the Armenian-majority town of Akhalkalak (modern-day
Akhalkalaki Akhalkalaki ( ka, ახალქალაქი, tr; hy, Ախալքալաք / Նոր-Քաղաք, translit=Axalk’alak’ / Nor-K’aġak’) is a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe–Javakheti and the administrative centre of the Ak ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
) in the
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 ...
of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. He first went to school in his birthplace, then moved to
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 ...
(Tbilisi) and graduated from the Tiflis Russian Gymnasium. In 1892 he went to
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
to continue his studies at the faculty of medicine of
Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
. However, he was expelled and sent back to Tiflis for participating in revolutionary activities. In 1897, he married Olga Vavilevna, a Russian revolutionary he met in his student days with whom he would have two sons and one daughter. He then traveled to
Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, where he graduated from the Lausanne Medical Institue in 1899. It was there that he met Kristapor Mikayelian, one of the founding members of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...
. Ohanjanyan's pseudonym within the party was Mher Mherian. In 1903 he returned to Transcaucasia and worked as a doctor in Tiflis and
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 ...
. He became an member of the eastern Bureau of the ARF in 1905. Ohanjanian was in charge of relations between the ARF and Russian and Georgian revolutionaries during the Armenian–Tatar clashes of 1905–1907. At the 4th congress of the ARF in Vienna in 1907, he was a supporter of the "Caucasian program" which called for the party to engage in revolutionary activities against the tsarist authorities. He was arrested during the tsarist crackdown on Armenian revolutionaries (the so-called " Stolypin reaction") and sent to
Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...
in 1909. He was the chief defendant in the trial of 159 ARF members in 1912, where the Armenian revolutionaries were defended by
Alexander Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; Reforms of Russian orthography, original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months ...
. Ohanjanyan was exiled to
Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...
in
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
the next year. There he met his second wife, Rubina Areshyan, a fellow Armenian revolutionary, with whom he would have one son, Vigen (born 1920 in Yerevan). After the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he was amnestied and returned to Tiflis. He then worked as a doctor on the Caucasian front. In November 1917, he was elected a member of the
Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It met fo ...
(which formed following the
February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
) and served as commissar for public welfare of the
Transcaucasian Commissariat The Transcaucasian Commissariat was established at Tbilisi on 11 November 1917, as the first government of the independent Transcaucasia following the October Revolution in Petrograd. The Commissariat decided to strengthen the Georgian–Armenian ...
. He was also a member of the Transcaucasian Seim in 1918. In June 1918, he was sent by the Armenian National Council to Berlin to seek recognition and protection for Armenia, then participated in the Paris Peace Conference as a member of the Republic of Armenia's delegation. In May 1918, Ohanjanyan's eldest son from his first marriage, Monik, was killed while fighting against invading Ottoman forces in the
Battle of Karakilisa The Battle of Karakilisa ( hy, Ղարաքիլիսայի ճակատամարտ ''Gharakilisayi chakatamart'', tr, Karakilise Muharebesi or ) was a battle of Caucasus Campaign of World War I that took place in the vicinity of Karakilisa (now Vanadz ...
.


First Republic of Armenia

In January 1920 he went to
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 ...
and took up the position of minister of foreign affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister
Alexander Khatisian Alexander Khatisian (; 17 February 1874 – 10 March 1945) was an Armenian politician, doctor and journalist. Khatisian was born in Tiflis in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (Tbilisi, Georgia) to a prominent Armenian family of noble ...
. After the resignation of Khatisian's government following the Bolshevik uprising of May 1920, Hamo Ohanjanian became prime minister, leading what is referred to as the bureau-government, as it consisted almost entirely of members of the ARF's top executive body, the party Bureau. Ohanjanyan's government followed a policy of open authoritarianism. It imposed martial law, suspended civil liberties, used the army to crush the Bolshevik rebellion, and executed several of its leaders. After this victory, the Armenian army went on to defeat Muslim rebels in districts near Yerevan and advance toward Nakhichevan by the end of July 1920. Before they could restore Armenian control over Nakhichevan, they were intercepted by the Red Army, which occupied parts of
Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura (Caspia ...
,
Zangezur Zangezur ( hy, Զանգեզուր) is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar Ir ...
and Nakhichevan to establish an overland link with Kemalist Turkey. It was during Ohanjanyan's premiership, on 10 August 1920, that the unimplemented
Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres (french: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy, as well ...
was signed, by which Armenia was supposed to receive significant territories in
Western Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that are part of the historical homeland of the Armenians. Weste ...
. While engaging in negotiations with Soviet Russia, Ohanjanyan's government was distrustful of the Soviets and maintained a pro- Entente orientation; Ohanjanyan himself was considered a member of the "intensely anti-Bolshevik" wing of the ARF leadership. In September 1920, Kemalist Turkey invaded Armenia, and after a series of crushing defeats, Ohanjanyan's government resigned on 23 November 1920 to allow another cabinet led by
Simon Vratsian Simon Vratsian ( hy, Սիմոն Վրացեան; 1882 – 21 May 1969) was an Armenian politician and activist of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He was one of the leaders of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920) and served as its las ...
to negotiate peace terms.


Exile

Following the
sovietization of Armenia The Red Army invasion of Armenia, also known as the Sovietization or the Soviet invasion of Armenia, the Soviet occupation of Armenia, or Soviet intervention in Armenia was a military campaign which was carried out by the 11th Army of Soviet Ru ...
, Ohanjanyan was arrested by the Bolsheviks on 6 December 1920 near Karakilisa along with other ARF leaders while attempting to flee to Georgia. He was released during the
February Uprising The February Uprising ( classical hy, Փետրուարեան ապստամբութիւն, reformed: Փետրվարյան ապստամբություն, ''P'etrvaryan apstambut'yun'') was an anti-Bolshevik rebellion by the nationalist Armenian Re ...
of 1921, when Soviet rule was briefly overthrown in Armenia. He fled to Iran after the restoration of Soviet rule and from there went to Egypt. He lived the rest of his life in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, working as a doctor and continuing his activities as a member of the ARF Bureau. He was one of the founders of
Hamazkayin Hamazkayin (), short for Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society, is a major cultural organization of the Armenian Diaspora, with a presence in every significant Armenian community worldwide. In addition to organizing cultural events ...
, an educational and cultural organization active in the Armenian diaspora to this day. Ohanjanyan died on 31 July 1947.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohanjanyan, Hamo 1873 births 1947 deaths People from Samtskhe–Javakheti People from Tiflis Governorate Russian Constituent Assembly members Armenian nationalists Armenian revolutionaries People of the First Republic of Armenia Prime Ministers of Armenia Armenian Revolutionary Federation politicians Georgian people of Armenian descent Government ministers of Armenia Foreign ministers of Armenia Armenian people from the Russian Empire