Zoravar Andranik

[Artsakh]

http://www.electpress.com/books/andranik.gif

 

 

THIS THREAD IS DEDICATED TO THE 14OTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS LEGENDARY HEROS BIRTHDAY. MAY HE ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED.

 

Andranik *****

(1865-1927)

 

 

 

The first name in the Armenian struggle for national liberation in modern times

 

is Andranik. "Like an eagle he soars over the mountains and ridges."

 

Andranik Toros Ozanian was born in historic Shabin-Karahisar ("Shabin,

 

the black fortress," 80 miles northeast of Erzurum). He was destined more,

 

perhaps, than any of the other Armenian revolutionaries, to provide leadership,

 

rationality, acumen, prudence, and effectiveness to Armenia's rising up against the

 

brutal Ottoman oppression.

 

Even during his adolescence Andranik recognized the pattern of Ottoman

 

oppression and the sufferings of his people. So it was that at the tender age of 22,

 

having lost his wife and two children, Andranik joined a partisan group formed in

 

his native town.

 

Inspired with the ideals of liberation for his people, Andranik went to Constantinople

 

to meet those who had already been deeply involved in the liberation movement. He

 

readily accepted tasks assigned to him.

 

When the leader, Serob Aghbiur, of a fighting group which Andranik had joined, was

 

killed, Andranik was named leader.

 

It was in 1901 when his fighting group held out in the Arakelots Vank against an

 

overwhelmingly superior force that Andranik's name became famous for his

 

effectiveness as a revolutionary leader.

 

There were many more similar occurrences to come.

 

Andranik, at first, joined the Hunchak party; it was through party organization that he

 

could be effective in securing men and materiel with which to carry on. But disagreement

 

with party policies led Andranik to leave the Hunchak ranks and join the Dashnak party.

 

There too, when that party engaged in practices judged to be wrong in principle,

 

Andranik resigned.

 

During the period 1907-13 Andranik committed his energies to helping the Bulgarian

 

liberation movement. In it he created an Armenian division, which brought honor to itself

 

by its effective participation. For his efforts Andranik was decorated and commissioned

 

an officer.

 

With World War I under way (1914-1918) Andranik went to the Caucasus and assisted

 

in organizing Armenian battle units to fight the Turks alongside the Russian army units.

 

In 1915 Andranik was named commander of all Armenian volunteer units within the Russian

 

army.

 

The overthrow of the Tsarist regime in Russia (1917) and the consequent collapse of the

 

Russian imperial army found Andranik on the side of the working class out of which the

 

social revolution in Russia had arisen.

 

Early in 1918 he began to organize a separate army to liberate western Armenia. Made a

 

Major General, Andranik had many thousands under his command, Armenian soldiers from

 

the old Russian army, and many thousand Armenians who had volunteered from all over the

 

world.

 

However, short on re-sources and back-up military fighting units, Andranik had to abandon

 

his plan to take Erzurum.

 

With the collapse of the Tsarist Russian government an independent Armenian Republic was

 

set up in May 1918. Andranik was in sympathy with the social principles that came with the

 

new Russian order and desired to maintain amicable relations with Russia. However, Armenia's

 

ruling party, the Dashnaks, did not favor such a relationship. As a result Andranik once again

 

had a falling out with them.

 

The brilliant defense of Zangezur (1918-19) under Andranik's command marked the end of his

 

military career.

 

Leaving Armenian lands he travelled to Europe and eventually to America (1922), finally settling

 

in Fresno, California, with his new wife. His name and fame enabled him to be effective in

 

fund-raising activities in America for aid to Armenian orphans.

 

His life in Fresno, with frequent visits elsewhere in response to calls, was spent very much in the

 

public eye. But his health was failing. While seeking to regain strength in a sanatorium in Chico,

 

California, the death that he had eluded in his many years of fierce battle encounters, now finally

 

caught up with him. The date was August 31, 1927.

 

City-wide public attention was accorded him at his funeral in Fresno, where he was interred

 

(September 7, 1927) in the Ararat Cemetery.

 

A few months later Andranik's remains were exhumed and taken to Paris (accompanied by his

 

widow) for a second funeral service and interment.

 

Few heroes have been as well acclaimed during their lives as was Andranik.

Edited May 16, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

http://www.usanogh.com/articles/pics/andranik.jpg Edited May 16, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

http://armenianhistory.info/images/andranik.jpg Edited May 16, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

http://www.usanogh.com/articles/article.php?story_id=242

 

 

Andranik Torosi Ozanyan, known to the Armenian public as Zoravar Andranik (Andranik the General), was born on February 25, 1865, in the town of Shapin-Garahisar, West Armenia. Andranik Ozanyan is known to have been a distinguished promoter of the Armenian national liberation movement. His bravery and courage in battles became the standard behavior expected from all Armenian soldiers at war.

At ages 14-15, Andranik joined the Armenian armed resistance force, against the Turkish oppression in West Armenia, which was occupied by the Ottoman Turks. As an Armenian rebel, he was captured and imprisoned by the Turkish government. Later on, after being freed from prison, Andranik relocated to Constantinople, where he worked as a carpenter. Furthermore, while in Constantinople, Andranik found another opportunity to rejoin the Armenian national liberation movement. In turn, he moved to Batumi, and from there, along with other Armenian volunteers he relocated to Kars, where he took part in the partisan war against the Turks.

 

In the mid 1890s, when the government of Turkish tyrant Abdul Hamid was carrying out a public policy to forcefully assimilate Armenians into the Turkish mainstream, Andranik Ozanyan, as a member of an Armenian volunteer force, lead by the famous Armenian guerilla leader Agbyur Serob, took active part in the battles of Taron and Sassoon. Later on, in November of 1901, Andranik Ozanyan, leading a numerically small military detachment, scored a large victory against the Turkish troops and Kurdish mob, by breaking through the siege of Msho Arakelots monastery and escaping potential capture. His bravery, shown at the battle, earned him the reputation of an ?elusive fighter?.

 

In 1904, after leading a series of battles in Vaspurakan (Akhtamar and Van), Andranik Ozanyan, along with his military detachment, moved to Iran, and from there, onto Southern Caucasus. There, he became friends with the famous Armenian poet, Hovhanes Toumanyan, with whom he discussed the destiny of Armenia and the Armenian people. A year later, in 1905, Andranik Ozanyan moved to Geneva, where he met Siamanto, another distinguished Armenian poet and national intellectual. From Geneva, he moved to Vienna, and from there he moved to Felipe, Bulgaria. Later on, Andranik traveled to France, Belgium, England, and Verna, where he resided for a period of time.

 

In the first Balkan war (1912-1913), the Armenian military detachment of Andranik Ozanyan, along with another Armenian military detachment, lead by General Garegin Njdeh, fought courageously against the Turkish troops, as part of the Bulgarian army. In 1914, during World War I, Andranik Ozanyan was appointed as the commander of the First Voluntary Armenian Regiment that fought against the Turks in the Caucasus as part of the Russian army. During the war, General Andranik scored 20 victorious battles, and played an important role in the battles of Dilman (1915), Zevan, and Bitlis. During those battles, Andranik?s talents as a great general were manifested.

 

In 1915, General Andranik was honored with the ?Georgiyevyan Khach? (medal) of the 4th degree. Later on, in 1918, he was appointed as the commander of Erzrum?s Armenian defense forces. During an overwhelming Turkish counter-offensive, Andranik Ozanyan retreated toward the Sarikamish-Kars-Alexandropol direction, with his forces and thousands of Armenian refugees . They reached Nakhichevan in June. In the face of prevailing disagreements with the first Armenian National Government about the way they conducted their affairs, Andranik disassembled his military unit in April 1919, giving up all his military stock to Catholicos Gevork Tpkhisetsun, and going overseas to America.

 

On August 31 of 1927, legendary General Andranik Ozanyan passed away in Fresno, California. His body was transported to France, and buried in the French Pere Lachaise cemetery, until the year 2000. The government of the second independent Armenian Republic decided to relocate General Andranik?s remains to Armenia, where he received an honorable military reburial at the Yerablur Armenian National Cemetery.

[Artsakh]

http://www.araratonline.com/pics/TN_Coperta%20Antranik.JPGAndranik (other language) Edited May 16, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

ANTRANIGI YERKUH

 

(Andarper Mee Yeghir) (Don't be indifferent)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Don't be indifferent to the Armenian race

Rise up from the Grave, Andranik *****

Walk infront of the Armenian troops

Rise up from the Grave, Andranik *****

----------------------------------------------------

 

Andarper mee yeghir Hye azki hamar,

Ver gats kerezmanits, Antranig *****,

Shrchir Haygagan zorkeri arach,

Ver gats kerezmanits, Antranig *****.

 

Madagh linem ko tsiou smpagin,

Vor na mghets oojkin toorki goghin,

Haghtagan pazoog-ud vertsoor versdin,

Ver gats kerezmanits, Antranig *****.

 

Bidi harootioun arnes too norits,

Djermag njouikov eechnes lernerits,

Anoon-ut togh tnta Ararad lerits,

Ver gats kerezmanits, Antranig *****.

Edited May 16, 2005 by Artsakh

[hayamol]

Some more songs about Antranig

 

ANTRANIGIN YERK@

 

Govgasi kacher, khmper gazmetsek,

Kach Antranigin oknoutian hasek,

Aradz ir shourch zinvorner outsoun,

Makre djanabarh na tebi Sasoun.

Soultan sarsapadz, djar@ gdrvadz,

Hazar vosgi e klkhin khosdatsadz.

 

Hay badaniner, shoudov sharjvetsek,

Yerpek mi vakhnak, sourer sharjetsek,

Hasel e jam@, sourp azadoutian,

Genalou jam che, shoudov kaletsek.

Sirenk mioutioun, chanenk vadoutioun,

Ounenank, hayer, sourp azadoutioun.

 

Kach Antranig@ anvakh, sour aradz

Hayasdan knal vaghouts er oukdadz,

Ach ou tsakh chartel tourk zinvornerin,

Kiourderits madagh perel vankerin.

Teh, Shakir *****, mdadzir hnar,

Hazar vosgiyov anes klkhit djar.

 

Govgasi kacher, arioudzi djouder,

Sirek tser souser, arek nizagner,

Hay oriortner, orhnyal diginner,

Dzakhek tser zarter, arek kntagner.

Aghkad, ko louman dour hayrenikin,

Prgelou ko kheghdj garod @ngerin.

 

 

ANTRANIGIN KAYLERK@

 

Tashnagtsagan khoump knank menk sasoun,

Mer hay yeghpayrner mez en sbasoum,

Antranig@ kach ir @ngernerov,

Gouze baderazm, g@ sbase karnan.

 

Mod e karoun@, shoudov g@ patsvi.

Hayou khosk@ kach shoudov g@ lsvi

Hayer@ anvakh hokvov miatsadz

Hratsan ousernin vodki en ganknadz.

 

Khmpabedner@ hokvov en yertvadz,

Fedayik oujov knoum en arach,

Arachn e ganknadz Antranig@ kach,

Koroum e gochoum, gouze baderazm.

 

Herik yeghpayrner, menk shad knetsink,

Pavagan che mez ayskan hamperel?

Mayr Hayasdan@ tserke hanetsink,

Hima ouj ounink tartsial yed garnenk.

 

 

ANTRANIGIN

 

Iprev ardziv savarnoum es ler ou jayr,

Tntatsnoum es yergink yergir denchavar,

Kach anount bidi hishvi tare tar,

Hsga lerink kez abasdan, Antranig.

 

Kiourd ou dadjig yerp lsen ko anoun@,

Otseri bes bid' soghan irents pouyn@,

Yeragnerit anvakh kachi arioun@,

Ch@ tsamake minch havidyan, Antranig.

 

Hayots gousank tapnya bsag togh hiousen,

Knkoush tseramp ko djagad@ bsagen,

Koharnerov anvakh gourdzk@t zartaren,

Getses haved tou ansasan, Antranig.

 

Hayasdani sokhagner@ kez hamar,

Togh taylaylen kisher tsereg antatar,

Anhaght mnas, tou kach grvi sirahar,

Hayreniki der ou bashdban, Antranig.

[Artsakh]

Very good my friend!

 

Kach anount bidi hishvi tare tar, Katch Andranik

[Mica]

hey ppl!! u know my grandfathers come from SASOUN(WESTERN ARMENIA) and Andranik also comes from those places, and I was present at the ceremony of Andranik's 140th anniversary on Feb 24 at state Chamber Music Hall!! After the ceremony we danced Kochari Yarkhushta and more... that was great!!

[Artsakh]

There is another event coming up in his honor at the Alex Theathre on June 19th at 7PM. If any of you folks are interested, call 818) 409-9251

 

I got this information for a commerical on Armenian tv. All the proceeds go to help veterans of the Artsakh war.

[Mica]

I guess it isn't in Yerevan...

[Artsakh]

no, the alex theathre is located in Glendale, CA on brand blvd.

[kars]

hey  ppl!! u know my grandfathers come from SASOUN(WESTERN ARMENIA) and Andranik also comes from those places

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Where did you get the idea that Andranik was from Sasun?

[Artsakh]

General Andranik's statue erected in French town

 

06.06.2005 17:21

 

 

YEREVAN - A monument of General Andranik was unveiled on June 4 in the French town of Pleci-Robinson near Paris. Armenian Ambassador to France Edvard Nalbandian and the town's mayor Philip Pemsek attended the ceremony. The monument is a gift from Yerevan's Arabkir district municipality.

 

This is another addition to over 100 monuments, streets and squares dedicated to the Armenian people across France.

High-ranking French and Armenian officials attended the ceremony.

[Mica]

Where did you get the idea that Andranik was from Sasun?

style_images/master/snapback.png

no he wasn't from Sasoun sorry he was born in Shapin Garahisar but he faought in Sasoun, didn't he?

[kars]

no he wasn't from Sasoun sorry he was born in Shapin Garahisar but he faought in Sasoun, didn't he?

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Yes.

 

Andranik twice participated in successful operations in Sasun (in mid-90-ies and in 1902-04). Locals remember him, with awe, even today. Sasun Kurds have even composed heroic songs about the “*****”. But Andranik is most famous for his role in Taron in 1901 – that’s when he became a legendary figure.

 

For whatever reason, sasuntsi people are overrated in modern-day Armenian perception of the events in the late XIX – early XX c. in the Ottoman Empire. All outstanding military leaders of the period are (anecdotally) claimed to be sasuntsi (starting from Serob Aghbyur and ending with Nzhdeh, and including Andranik, of course).

 

Maybe the impact of the folklore (Sasuntsi Davit) played a key role in this unjustified glorification of otherwise passive people of Sasun? In fact, there are no significant sasuntsi figures known. (Gevorg Chavush is the only exception).

 

Can anybody name one? I don’t think so.

[Artsakh]

Tashnagtsagan khoump knank menk sasoun,

 

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

This portion does NOT belong here because Andranik was not particularly fond of that party, nor any other party for that matter. Lets keep this strickly at a national level, NOT partisan.

Edited October 2, 2005 by Artsakh

[Artsakh]

http://www.abrilbooks.com/Bookinfo/History...ralAndranik.htm

 

http://www.abrilbooks.com/images/books/GeneralAndranik.gif

[Yervant1]

HERO WHO INSPIRITED ARMENIAN CHAMPIONS OF INDEPENDENCE - TODAY MARKS ANDRANIK OZANYAN'S BIRTHDAY

11:44 â~@¢ 25.02.15

February 25 marks the 150th birth anniversary of Andranik Ozanyan,
a legendary Armenian commander and champion of freedom, and a national
liberation hero of Armenia and Bulgaria.

Taking the lead of the Armenian Feedayi troops after the murder
of Aghbur Serob (military leader; 1864 - 1899), Andranik decades
later became the symbol of the new Armenian statehood's champions of
independence and freedom, says Gagik Ginosyan, an Armenian ethnographic
dance master and a veteran of the Nagorno-Karabakh liberation war.

"As [great Armenian novelist] Khachik Dashtents stated years later
(in his novel "Call of the Ploughmen" dedicated to the early 20th
century Armenian liberation struggle), we all should one day kiss
their rebellious foreheads," he told Tert.am, sharing his thoughts
on the great hero's heritage and feats.

According to Vardan Devrikyan, a deputy head of the Manuk Abeghyan
Institute of Literature and a member of the Karabakh war veterans'
volunteer union Yerkrapah (Defender of Land), Andranik and all the
Armenian feedayis of the early 1900's are central images for all
those who appreciate the country's independence and the value of the
liberation campaign.

Andranik Ozanyan (aka Andranik or Zoravar /commander/ Andranik) was
born in 1865 in Shabin-Karahisar, a town now situated in northeastern
Turkey, and died at age 62 in the United States (Sacramento area).

First buried in Fresno (the Soviet authorities banned the hero's
funeral in Armenia), his body was a year later moved to the Pere
Lachaise cemetery of Paris. In 2000, the Andranik was reinterred in
Yerevan's Yerablur Pantheon.

Engaged in carpentry in his teens, Andranik had to later replace
the craftsman's adze with rifle, dedicating himself to the fight for
his homeland's liberation. Jailed by Turkish Janissaries but later
managing to escape from prison, he soon joined Aghbyur Serob's troops,
committing himself to the delivery of arms supplies to the Armenian
Feedayis.

In 1904, Andranik led the rebellion of Sasun. He also twice
demonstrated his striking talent in the Second Balkan War (in which
he took part as a military leader of a voluntary command formed
jointly with Garegin Nzhdeh, a prominent Armenian statesman public
figure and military strategist; 1886 -1955). Destroying the Turkish
army on the river Maritsa, he was later honored with Golden Cross,
the highest award by the Bulgarian Government.

Andranik brought a great a glory to tÕ°e Arakelots (Holy Apostles)
Monastery in Mush with his invincible heroes who managed to break
through and later escape from the enemy's circle.

"As a carpenter, he initially repaired Fedayis' gun butts but the
God's providence, as they say, is unpreventable. So he was to later
become the key figure and the symbol of the Feedayi campaign," Mr
Ginosyan noted.

In the war veteran's words, the Nagorno-Karabakh liberation struggle
would have been impossible without the inspiration drawn from the
legendary commander's image. For him, Andranik was the very symbol
of the hero warriors in the early 1990's.

"He took part in the Balkan war when the Bulgarians were waging a
battle against the Turks to liberate themselves from the Turkish yoke.

During World War One, he commanded the first of the seven Armenian
regiments; it is a unique example for a movement leader to later also
head a regular army, attaining the general's title," he added.

Mr Ginosyan said he very much wishes to see the understanding that
Andranik's 150th birthday is not just a regular anniversary. "Such a
serious jubilee year should not be insignificant," he said, noting
that Armenia this year had the first ever chance to celebrate the
legendary hero's birthday on a state level.

Mr Devrikyan more focused on Andranik's smartness and wit as a
military leader.

"His first Feedayi operations were something that ran counter to
common sense, but they had a brilliant result," he said, noting that
the hero's plans were often treated with skepticism by his warriors.

Literary critic David Gasparyan says Andranik's dedication and
efforts in the early 20th century's national liberation campaign were
tantamount to Commander Vardan Mamikonyan's great contribution to
the Armenians' success in the Battle of Avarayr in the fifth century.

"Andranik is among those heroes who cleared the Armenian nationhood
of strange, hostile elements to give the migrant Armenian a space to
live. Andranik's image was evaluated differently in different periods;
from the 1920s until the 1960s, the attitude to him was negative. But
later everything was settled down," he added.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/02/25/andranikozanian/1599999

[Yervant1]

INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL ANTRANIK WITH A CORRESPONDENT OF THE GUARDIAN (UK) IN 1919

February 25, 2015

ARMENIA'S NEED OF PROTECTION

ANTRANIK AND THE WORLD'S INDIFFERENCE

Mr. Scotland Liddell, the correspondent of the British press, in a
dispatch from Gerusi, Caucasus, dated February 1, says:-

Following on my visit to the Mussulman villages in the Zangezurski
Province, I rode here last night, crossing in the dark from the Tartar
district into country inhabited by Armenians. I came alone without
an escort, and as is usual when crossing such boundary lines at the
present time, I was fired on. The darkness was fortunate.

To-day I had lunch and an interview with General Antranik at his
headquarters in the town. Antranik, a handsome man of 53, has
personality. The Mussulman with whom I have been living these past
ten days declared him to be a bandit. But much has been done in
Antranik's name of which he is quite innocent. My meeting with him
has strengthened this belief.

For thirty-three years Antranik has fought against the Turk. On one
occasion he and 49 men were besieged in a monastery at Arakelots. They
held out for twenty-two days against 4,000 Turks, and escaped in
safety. In the Balkan War of 1912 Antranik went with his small band
of warriors and fought with the Bulgarians against Turkey. In 1914
he was at Varna. On August 25 of that year he left for the Caucasus,
where he raised a volunteer army of Armenians. In the two years
1914-1916 he and his men marched nearly 5,000 miles and fought 39
battles, but it was not until 1917 that the Russians gave him the
rank of officer in their army.

It is difficult to write briefly of Antranik's doing in the past
two years. Bolshevism ruined the once splendid Russian army and the
Russian soldiers left the front. Antranik remained to carry on his
great struggle against his country's oppressors. He fought against
cruel odds. He had no artillery and no machine-guns, there was little
bread, and many of his men deserted. There were thousands of Armenians
refugee women and children who had to be protected. Antranik held
out, and even when Armenia made peace with the Turks last year he
did not cease to fight. It was, he told me, a shameful peace, and
to that he would not agree. Finally, when the armistice was signed,
he returned to Gerusi.

Antranik is the one great Armenian national hero. They have a
superstition that nothing can harm him, and it is certainly a very
remarkable fact that in all his long years of fighting he has never
once been wounded.

All this information as to his career I received by frequent
questioning. Antranik himself talked only of the present and the future
state of Armenia. Some of the figures he gave me were appalling. Nearly
1,000,000 Armenians have been massacred during the war by the Turks. In
the Caucasus alone there are over 250,000 Armenian refugees at the
present time. At Erivan there are upwards of 8,000 orphans. In the
Crimean and in the Southern Russian Black Sea districts there are
at least another 35,000 refugees who fled from Armenia. If no help
is given immediately, the Armenian refugees in the Caucasus will
die of hunger. They must be sent back to their former holdings, and
they must have the necessary agricultural machinery to enable them
to raise their crops. Unless help is forthcoming before the spring
most of the people will be lost.

Race Threatened with Extinction.

"I am shocked," said Antranik, "at the indifference of the whole
world to the sufferings of Armenia. Not only the Allies but also
all the European countries are heartless and without pity. I am not
referring to the present time nor even to the past four years, but I
speak now of the past thirty or forty years, when the whole world has
been shockingly callous and indifferent to our sufferings. The Allies
have done nothing. All the Armenian intellectuals have either been
murdered or they have emigrated. We are in need of leaders for the
poor people. Unless we have help, and unless Armenians will come from
Europe and America to assist us, our whole race will die out. Those who
have the means will themselves emigrate, and the poorer folk will die.

"The great question of the future, as far as we are concerned, is
who will be master here. Without the protection of another country
Armenia cannot exist. She cannot rule herself. There would always be
unrest and little combats with the Tartars over racial matters."

Antranik defended himself against the charges of having wantonly
destroyed Tartar villages. The fault, he said, lay with the Tartar
leaders, who chose to sympathise with the Turk instead of with the
Allies. They opposed him in every way, so he was compelled to combat
against them. Incidentally he told me this: "I believe that there was
a German Turkish scheme to raise 300,000 men in the Caucasus last
year, and to send these men through Persia to threaten India." In
that case it was Antranik's intention to work his way down to Persia
and to join the British forces there. The collapse of Turkey put an
end to the scheme.

Antranik is shortly going to retire. He has travelled in Europe before
- Paris, Antwerp, Berlin, Rome, and he has been in England. He tells
me he has already got a future home in view - Manchester.-Press
Association War Special.

The Manchester Guardian (aka The Guardian now)

Thursday, March 13, 1919 Page 8

(This article was posted By Katia M. Peltekian)

http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/62299

[Yervant1]

TODAY IS ANDRANIK OZANIAN'S 151ST BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

15:30, 25 Feb 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

February 25, 2015 marks the 151st birthday of Andranik Ozanian
(Zoravar Andranik), Armenian military commander and statesman, key
figure of the Armenian national liberation movement.

He became active in an armed struggle against the Ottoman government
and Kurdish irregulars in the late 1880s. He joined the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktustyun) party and, along with
other fedayi (irregular soldiers), sought to defend the Armenian
peasantry living in their ancestral homeland, an area known as or
Western Armenia--at the time part of the Ottoman Empire.

His revolutionary activities ceased and he left the Ottoman Empire
after the unsuccessful uprising in Sasun in 1904. In 1907, Andranik
left Dashnaktustyun because he disapproved of its cooperation with
the Young Turks, a party which years later perpetrated the Armenian
Genocide. In 1912-1913, together with Garegin Nzhdeh, Andranik led
few hundred Armenian volunteers within the Bulgarian army against
the Ottomans during the First Balkan War.

Since the early stages of World War I, Andranik commanded the first
Armenian volunteer battalion and led them within the Russian Imperial
army against the Ottoman army. After the Revolution of 1917, the
Russian army retreated and left the Armenian irregulars outnumbered
against the Turks. Andranik led the defense of Erzurumin early 1918,
but was forced to retreat eastward. By May 1918, Turkish forces stood
near Yerevan--the future Armenian capital.

The Armenian National Council declared the independence of Armenia and
signed the Treaty of Batum with the Ottoman Empire, by which Armenia
gave up its rights to Western Armenia. Andranik never accepted the
existence of the First Republic of Armenia because it included only
a small part of the area many Armenians hoped to make independent.

Andranik, independently from the Republic of Armenia, fought in
Zangezur against the Azerbaijani and Turkish armies and helped to
keep it within Armenia.

Andranik left Armenia in 1919 due to disagreements with the Armenian
government and spent his last years of life in Europe and the United
States seeking relief for Armenian refugees. He settled in Fresno,
California in 1922 and died five years later in 1927. Andranik is
greatly admired as a national hero by Armenians; numerous statues of
him have been erected in several countries. Streets and squares were
named after Andranik, and songs, poems and novels have been written
about him, making him a legendary figure in Armenian culture.

Andranik died from angina on 31 August 1927 at Richardson Springs,
California. Andranik's remains were originally planned to be buried in
Armenia; however, the Soviet authorities refused entry.He was first
buried at Ararat Cemetery in Fresno, and his remains were moved to
France and buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris on 29 January
1928.In early 2000, the Armenian and French governments arranged the
transfer of Andranik's body from Paris to Yerevan.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.armradio.am_en_2016_02_25_today-2Dis-2Dandranik-2Dozanians-2D151st-2Dbirth-2Danniversary_&d=CwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=fN9G51cwqyjAxawxEYWkzo3z4LyuLQmR3kNREWlXnno&s=XSEtAUNgg4gjS_zN6uM23KDBmKsvCmix9KgiNVPa1yY&e=

[MosJan]

https://modernarmenia.mediamax.am/am/story/8



«Մահվան համար չեմ ցավիր, կցավիմ, թե որքան ուրախ պիտի ըլլան թուրքերը: Մահս չեմ հոգար այլ գործս, որ կիսատ մնաց: Եթե այս անգամ ցավը զիս տանի, մարմինս օտար հողի վրա չթողուս, անպայման Հայաստան փոխադրեք։ Եթե զիս հայրենիք չընդունին, ձեռքիս ցուցամատը կտրել կուտաս եւ հոն կղրկես, տեղ մը թող թաղեն: Աս մատս շատ աշխատած է հայրենիքի համար եւ շատ հոգնած է, թող հայրենի հողին մեջ հանգստանա»։

[MosJan]

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