Sargis Mehrabyan ( hy, Սարգիս Մեհրաբյան), also known as Commander Vartan, Vartan of Khanasor and Vartan Mehrpanian, was an

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n fedayee military commander and member 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 ...

.Tasnapetean, Hrach. ''History of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Dashnaktsutiun, 1890–1924''

Biography

Sargis Mehrabyan was one of the founding members of the

party and a close friend of leaders Kristapor Mikayelian and

Simon Zavarian Simon Zavarian (Armenian: , also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Anton, ; 1866 – 1913) was a leader of the Armenian national liberation movement and one of the three founders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, along with Kristapor Mikaeli ...

. In the 1890s, he directed party activity in Iranian Azerbaijan, where he organized the transfer of people and supplies of weapons to fight against Ottoman Turkey. His was commonly known by his ''

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

'' Vartan. At the time of the

Hamidian massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide an ...

in the summer of 1896, he led the defense of villages in the region of the current Catak district 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 ...

(now Turkey) and the Van province. The following year, he was one of the leaders, along with Prince

Hovsep Arghutian Prince Hovsep Arghutian (; 1863 – 1925), also known as Khanasori Ishkhan and Ishkhan Arghutian, was an Armenian military commander and political activist. Biography Hovsep Arghutian was born in Sanahin, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire to an ...

, who headed the

Khanasor Expedition The Khanasor Expedition ( hy, Խանասորի արշավանքը, ''Khanasori arshavankë'') was a punitive raid launched by Armenian fedayees against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. In 1896, in the aftermath of the Defense of Van, th ...

, to fight against the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Kurdish Hamidiye irregulars commanded by Sharif Bey, who had a role in the Hamidian massacres with his cavalry. On 24 July 1897, Vartan led 253 men across the Turkish-Persian border and engaged the men of Sharif Bey in the valley of Khanasor at dawn. The next day, after twelve hours of fighting, the Kurdish and Ottoman cavalry captains had been defeated and all men had been killed. Sharif Bey had fled, disguised in women's clothing, escaped overlooked because Vartan ordered not to attack women and children. He lost twenty men in the battle. Afterward, Vartan received the honorary nickname ''Vardan Khanassori''. In the summer of 1905, after the start of the Armenian–Tatar massacres, Vartan was called to his native

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 ...

to organize and command the self-defense of the region against the exactions of the Azerbaijanis (Tatars). After the outbreak of the

First World War 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 granted amnesty in Russia and joined the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. He commanded the Ararat Armenian volunteer battalion on the

Caucasus Campaign The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dicta ...

beginning in 1915. The brigade led the release of the city of

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

and ended

the siege ''The Siege'' is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks in New York City. The film stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony ...

on 19 May 1915.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehrabyan, Sargis 1943 deaths People from the Republic of Artsakh Armenian fedayi Armenian generals Armenian nationalists Armenian revolutionaries Armenian people of World War I Imperial Russian Army personnel Russian military personnel of World War I Year of birth missing

Biography

See also

References