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Andranik Toros Ozanian
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Andranik Toros Ozanian, Zoravar Andranik, ( ??????? ????????) (February 25, 1865 – August 31, 1927) was an Armenian general, political and public activist and freedom fighter, greatly admired as a national hero.
anik Ozanian was born in the church quarter of Sebinkarahisar, Ottoman Armenia (present-day Giresun Province, Turkey). His mother died when he was one year old, so his elder sister Nazeli took care of him.
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Andranik Toros Ozanian, Zoravar Andranik, ( ??????? ????????) (February 25, 1865 – August 31, 1927) was an Armenian general, political and public activist and freedom fighter, greatly admired as a national hero.
Early Age
Andranik Ozanian was born in the church quarter of Sebinkarahisar, Ottoman Armenia (present-day Giresun Province, Turkey). His mother died when he was one year old, so his elder sister Nazeli took care of him. Andranik finished the local Musheghian school and became an apprentice in his father's carpentry shop.
Revolutionary activities
After losing his wife and son at an early age, Andranik joined the Armenian freedom movement in the Ottoman Empire, and participated in various political parties, including Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He met the military commander Aghpyur Serob and joined his fedayeen. After the death of Serob (1899) he became the common leader of Armenian fedayee groups of Vaspurakan and Sassoun (Western Armenia). All of Andranik's lieutenants accepted that their leader possessed undisputed authority and superiority in military matters and that he was "primus inter pares" (the first among equals). Such was the popularity Andranik earned among the men he led that they came to refer to him always by his first name - even formally, when he later held a general's rank in the Imperial Russian Army.
The most famous battles of Andranik and his fedayees in that period were the guerrilla battles of Arakelots (St Apostols) Monastery of Mush (1901) and the Second Sasun Resistance (1904). Then he went to Europe and published his "Military instructions" book in Geneva in 1906.
Balkan Wars
Andranik participated in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, within the Bulgarian army, alongside general Garegin Njdeh as a commander of Armenian auxiliary troops in Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps. Bulgarian authorities honored him by the "Cross of Bravery".
Leon Trotsky in his correspondence from a Balkan battlefield wrote about Andranik:
"At the head of the Armenian volunteer troop formed in Sofia stood Andranik, a hero of song and legend. He is of middle height, wears a peaked cap and high boots, is lean, with greying hair and wrinkles, fierce moustaches and a shaved chin, and has the air of a man who, after an over-long historical interval has found himself once more."
World War I
During World War I, he participated in the Caucasus Campaign and was appointed as general of the Armenian volunteer units of the Russian army. He participated in 20 different offensives where he gained fame due to his courage and the tactics he employed to defeat the opposing forces.
The writer, intellectual and ARF leader Mikayel Varandian wrote about Andranik: "Not less courageous and not less capable than Serob Aghbiur, Andranik had both intelligence and instinct. A born strategist, with a thorough knowledge of the mountains and valleys of the motherland, he was a unique and unparalleled leader and commander. He was audacious and courageous, also cautious and farsighted".
He was the commanding officer of the Armenian volunteer units, which helped the Van Resistance take control of the Van on May 6, 1915. He helped re-capture the city from Ottoman forces during the Battle of Van. He was also the commander of the battalion that took the city of Bitlis (see: Battle of Bitlis) from the Ottoman forces that was under control of Mustafa Kemal. Between March 1918 - April 1918, he was the governor of the Administration for Western Armenia (The Armenian provisional government of an autonomous region that initially set up around Lake Van).
His military leadership was instrumental in allowing the Armenian population of Van to escape the Ottoman Army and flee to Eastern Armenia, then controlled by Russia. The territory later became the Democratic Republic of Armenia.
After the formation of the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA), he organized and fought alongside volunteer units to combat the Ottoman army. Andranik was leading his army in combat against the Ottomans during the signing of the Treaty of Batum, and refused to accept the borders stated by the treaty. His activities were concentrated at the link between the Ottoman Empire and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic at Karabakh, Zanghezur and Nakhichevan. Ozanian struck back at the Ottoman Fronts, Army of Islam.
Andranik tried several times to seize Shusha. Just before the Armistice of Mudros was signed, Andranik was on the way from Zangezur to Shushi, to control the main city of Karabakh. In January 1919 Armenian troops advancing, the British forces (Lionel Dunsterville) ordered Andranik back to Zangezur, and gave him assurances that a favorable treaty would be reached at the Paris Peace Conference, of 1919.
Aftermath of World War I
In 1919 he left Armenia amid political turmoil and power struggles and went into exile in Fresno, California, United States.
"When Antranik visited America, all the Armenians, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, gave him an enthusiastic reception. Americans were amazed and they asked: "Who is this man?". "He is the George Washington of Armenians", was the answer everywhere, and the Americans honored him by letting him sit on George Washington's chair, which was an unprecedented honor. In Paris the president of the French Republic, Poincaré' also paid him tribute by giving a reception in honor of him". Dr. Hermine Varjabedian
In 1920, the Literary Digest described him as Armenia's "Robin Hood, Garibaldi, and Washington, all in one ..." Andranik Ozanian lived in Fresno for 5 years until his death on August 31, 1927 at the age of 62. His remains were originally to be buried in Armenia but Communist officials refused entry. His remains were then moved to the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris in 1928, and eventually returned to Armenia in 2000, where he was buried at the Yerablur military cemetery. In 1995 Zoravar Andranik's Museum was founded in the Komitas Park of Yerevan.
Documentary films
- General Andranik (Zoravar Andranik), (1989 18min. 35 mm.Director Levon Mkrtchyan .
See also
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