They fought for Armenia's survival on the battlefields of the Balkans, the Caucasus and Syunik, and then came to America. General Andranik raised money for refugees in Fresno and settled there, Garegin Nzhdeh built a youth movement from Boston, and General Dro spent his last days in Boston. Monte Melkonian, born in Visalia, California, went the other way, from America to the Karabakh war. This page tells the American chapter of their lives.
General Andranik Ozanian
Military commander and national hero of the Armenian liberation movementKnown to Armenians simply as Zoravar (General) Andranik, he remains one of the most powerful symbols of Armenian self-defense and national resistance. Andranik Ozanian was born on February 25, 1865, in Shabin-Karahisar in the Ottoman Empire. He became the most famous fedayi (freedom fighter) of the Armenian liberation movement, leading resistance at the Battle of Holy Apostles Monastery in 1901 and in the Sasun uprising of 1904. In the First Balkan War he commanded Armenian volunteers in the Bulgarian army. In World War I he commanded the first Armenian volunteer battalion of the Russian army, distinguished himself at Dilman in April 1915 and entered Van in May 1915. In 1918–1919 he defended Zangezur.[1]
After leaving Armenia in April 1919, Andranik spent his remaining years working for Armenian refugees. At the end of 1919 he traveled to America with General Jaques Bagratuni, pressing the case for an American mandate for Armenia and collecting funds for the Armenian army and refugees. In Fresno he raised about $500,000, roughly $7 million in today's money.[1,2]
He married Nevarte Kurkjian in Paris on May 15, 1922, and the couple settled in Fresno that year. For several months he lived with the family of Armen Alchian, and in his free time he made small wooden chairs. Seeking better health, he moved to San Francisco in February 1926.[1]
Life in America
- Late 1919Delegation to the U.S.; raises about $500,000 in Fresno for refugees and the army
- 1922Settles in Fresno, California, with his wife Nevarte
- Feb 1926Moves to San Francisco for his health
- Aug 31, 1927Dies of angina at Richardson Springs, California
- 1927–28Buried at Ararat Cemetery, Fresno, then moved to Père Lachaise, Paris (January 29, 1928)
- Feb 20, 2000Reburied at Yerablur Military Pantheon, Yerevan[1]
His decorations included Bulgaria's Order of Bravery, Russia's Orders of St. Stanislaus, St. Vladimir and St. George, and France's Legion of Honor (Officier, 1919).[1]
General Drastamat Kanayan (Dro)
Military commander, Minister of Defense of the First Republic of ArmeniaDrastamat Kanayan, known as Dro, was born on May 31, 1884, in Igdir. He joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation during the protests against the 1903 tsarist confiscation of Armenian Church property and took part in Armenian self-defense in 1905–1906. In World War I he commanded the second Armenian volunteer battalion and was seriously wounded near Bayazid in November 1914.[3]
In May 1918, he commanded Armenian forces at the Battle of Bash Abaran, one of the victories credited with making the First Republic of Armenia possible. He briefly served as Armenia's Minister of Defense in late 1920 and then lived in exile, first in Moscow and later in Bucharest.[3]
Dro's record in World War II is controversial. He was involved in anti-Soviet Armenian efforts tied to Nazi Germany and the Armenian Legion, formed from Soviet Armenian prisoners of war who fought on the German side. Supporters argue that he acted to save Armenian prisoners of war from death in German camps and to keep hopes for Armenian independence alive. Critics stress that it was collaboration with Nazi Germany. American forces arrested him in Heidelberg after the war but soon released him.[3] An honest account of his life has to recognize both his role in Armenian national history and this wartime record.
Dro then emigrated to the United States and continued his political work. After moving to Beirut in 1947, he traveled to the United States four times. By 1950 his wife Gayane and son Mardik had settled in Boston, and he rejoined them there in the final months of his life.[3,4]
Life in America
- Late 1940sEmigrates to the U.S. after release by American forces in Germany
- 1947–1956Makes four trips to the United States from Beirut, including for medical care
- 1950Wife Gayane and son Mardik settle in Boston
- Mar 8, 1956Dies at New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston[4]
- 1956Funeral at Trinity Church, Boston; burial at Mount Auburn Cemetery[5,4]
- May 28, 2000Reburied in Aparan, Armenia, near the Bash Abaran battlefield[3]
In 2001, Armenia established the Drastamat Kanayan Medal in his honor.[3]
Garegin Nzhdeh
Military commander, Sparapet of Mountainous Armenia, founder of the Tseghakron youth movementGaregin Ter-Harutyunyan, known as Nzhdeh, was born on January 1, 1886, in the village of Kznut in Nakhichevan, the son of a village priest. In 1912 he joined General Andranik in an Armenian battalion of the Bulgarian army and fought against the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War, earning Bulgaria's Cross of Bravery. In World War I he served as deputy commander to Dro in the 2nd Armenian Volunteer Battalion.[6]
He is best remembered for the defense of Syunik (Zangezur). When Armenia was Sovietized in December 1920, he refused to let the region be handed to Soviet Azerbaijan. On April 26, 1921, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia was declared, with Nzhdeh as sparapet (supreme commander), prime minister and minister of defense. The republic capitulated in July 1921, after Soviet Russia promised to keep the region part of Soviet Armenia.[6]
In April 1933, at the request of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Nzhdeh arrived in Boston. Over about a year and a half he toured Armenian communities across the United States and Canada, and he founded the Tseghakron youth movement. Its first convention met at Hairenik Hall in Boston in June 1934, and in 1941 it became the Armenian Youth Federation, which is still active across America today.[7,6]
Like Dro, Nzhdeh is a controversial figure. During World War II he served on the Armenian National Council in Berlin, a body set up by Nazi Germany, and co-edited its newspaper, hoping to free Armenia from Soviet rule. Historians also document the expulsion of Muslim villagers by forces under his command in Syunik in 1920.[6]
Life in America
- Apr 1933Arrives in Boston with Kopernik Tanterjian at the request of the ARF[7,6]
- 1933–34Tours Armenian communities across the United States and Canada
- Jun 1934First Tseghakron convention at Hairenik Hall, Boston[7]
- Autumn 1934Returns to Sofia, Bulgaria[6]
- 1941The movement he founded becomes the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF)[7]
Arrested by Soviet forces at the end of the war, he died in Vladimir Central Prison on December 21, 1955. His remains were secretly brought to Armenia in 1983, and in 2005 he was reburied near his memorial on Mount Khustup in Kapan. A square and a metro station in Yerevan bear his name.[6]
Monte Melkonian
Commander in the Karabakh war, National Hero of ArmeniaUnlike the commanders above, Monte Melkonian was born in America. He was born on November 25, 1957, in Visalia, California, the third of four children of Charles Melkonian, a cabinet maker, and Zabel Melkonian, an elementary school teacher. He grew up a Little League pitcher and Boy Scout in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1969, on a family trip across Turkey, he visited Merzifon, his maternal grandparents' hometown, whose Armenian community had been destroyed in the Genocide.[10]
He won a Regents Scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, and finished a degree in ancient Asian history and archaeology in under three years. He turned down a place in Oxford's archaeology graduate program and left for the Middle East in 1978. He learned Armenian as an adult and also spoke Spanish, French and Japanese fluently.[10]
Melkonian's early years abroad are deeply controversial. After defending the Armenian quarter of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War, he joined the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in 1980. That year in Athens he shot dead Galip Özmen, an administrative attaché at the Turkish embassy, and also fired on the passengers he could not see through tinted glass: Özmen's 14-year-old daughter Neslihan later died of her wounds, and his wife and son were wounded. Melkonian later wrote that he would have spared them had he seen them. When ASALA split in 1983, he sided with the faction opposed to its leader, Hagop Hagopian. Arrested in Paris in 1985 for false papers and an illegal handgun, he spent more than three years in French prisons.[10] Many Armenians honor him as a national hero, while Turkey and Azerbaijan regard him as a terrorist. An honest account of his life has to recognize both.
In 1990 he settled in Armenia, and in September 1991 he went to the Shahumian region to fight in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. From February 1992 he commanded the Martuni region, where soldiers knew him as "Avo," and in April 1993 he helped plan the capture of Kalbajar. He was killed on June 12, 1993, near the village of Merzili, aged 35.[10,11] Tens of thousands of people attended his funeral in Yerevan on June 19, 1993.[10]
Life in America
- Nov 25, 1957Born in Visalia, California[10]
- 1969Year-long family trip to Europe, including a visit to Merzifon in Turkey
- 1978Graduates from UC Berkeley and leaves for Iran and Lebanon[10]
- After 1993His brother Markar, also raised in Visalia, later tells his story in the book My Brother's Road[10,11]
He is buried at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan. Armenia named him a National Hero in 1996, and Artsakh named him a Hero of Artsakh in 1999. Busts and statues stand in Yerevan's Victory Park, Dilijan and Vardenis.[10]
HeroesOther Heroes of the National Cause
Other heroes of the Armenian national cause also lived, worked or are buried in the United States.
DiplomacyArmen Garo
1872 – 1923Leader of the 1896 Ottoman Bank takeover and a doctor of chemistry from Geneva. He came to America in June 1917 and served as the First Republic's ambassador in Washington from 1918 to 1920, writing Why Armenia Should Be Free.[8]
Operation NemesisSoghomon Tehlirian
1896 – 1960Assassinated Talaat Pasha in Berlin in 1921 and was acquitted by a German jury. He lived in Cleveland, later worked as a postal clerk in San Francisco and is buried at Ararat Cemetery in Fresno.[9]
Photo credits
Portraits via Wikimedia Commons and official sources. Armen Garo: Unknown photographer, Public domain; Soghomon Tehlirian: Unknown author, Public domain; Andranik: Unknown author, Public domain; Drastamat Kanayan: Unknown author, Public domain; Garegin Nzhdeh: Unknown author, Public domain; Monte Melkonian (1992): Armenian Museum of Photo and Video Materials, CC BY-SA 2.0.
References
- Wikipedia — “Andranik.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andranik
- Aurora Humanitarian Initiative — “Andranik Ozanian, Famed Military Commander.” https://aurorahumanitarian.org/en/andranik-ozanian-famed-military-commander
- Wikipedia — “Drastamat Kanayan.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drastamat_Kanayan
- Armenia.com.au — “The Life and Time of General Dro.” https://www.armenia.com.au/news/Feature-Articles/Armenia/50650/The-Life-and-Time-of-General-Dro
- Wikipedia — “Armenian Americans.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Americans
- Wikipedia — “Garegin Nzhdeh.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garegin_Nzhdeh
- The Armenian Weekly — “AYF: A History-Making Youth Movement at 85.” https://armenianweekly.com/2018/01/23/ayf-history-making-youth-movement-85/
- Wikipedia — “Armen Garo.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armen_Garo
- Wikipedia — “Soghomon Tehlirian.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soghomon_Tehlirian
- Wikipedia — “Monte Melkonian.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Melkonian
- Hetq — “Monte Melkonian: November 25, 1957 – June 12, 1993.” https://hetq.am/en/article/20899