Garegin Nzhdeh

Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan was born on 1 January 1886 in the village of Kznut, Nakhchivan. He was the youngest of four children born to a local village priest. He lost his father, Der Yeghishe, in his childhood. Nzhdeh got his early education at a Russian school in Nakhchivan City and continued his education in Tiflis Gymnasium (Russian: Тифлисская гимназия, Tiflisskaya Gimnaziya).

At the age of 17, he joined the Armenian national liberation movement.[7] Shortly after, he moved to St. Petersburg to continue his education in a local university. After two years of studying at the Faculty of Law, he left St. Petersburg University and returned to the Caucasus in order to participate in the Armenian national movements against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1906, Nzhdeh moved to Bulgaria, where he completed his education at the Dmitry Nikolov Military College of Sofia and in 1907 was awarded the rank of Lieutenant.

Nzhdeh as a Bulgarian Army officer in the Balkan Wars

Garegin Nzhdeh during the Balkan Wars, 1912–1913.

In the same year he returned to Armenia. In 1908 he joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and participated in the Iranian revolution along with Yeprem Khan and Murad of Sebastia.

In 1909, upon his return to the Caucasus, Nzhdeh was arrested by the Russian authorities and spent 3 years in prison. In 1912, together with General Andranik Ozanian, he formed an Armenian battalion within the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of the Bulgarian Army to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan wars, for the liberation of Thrace and Macedonia. During the Second Balkan War he was wounded. For the brave and extraordinary performance of the Armenian fighters, Bulgarian military authorities honoured Nzhdeh with the Cross of Bravery.[8]

Prior to World War I, after an amnesty granted by the Russian authorities in 1914, Nzhdeh returned to the Caucasus to prepare the formation of the Armenian volunteer units within the Russian army to fight against the Ottoman Empire. During the first stage of the war, in 1915, he was appointed as an assistant-commander to Drastamat Kanayan (Dro) of the 2nd Armenian unit. Later on, in 1916, he commanded the special Armenian-Yezidi military unit. After the Russian Revolution and the withdrawal of the Russian army, Nzhdeh fought in the skirmishes of Alajay (near Ani, spring 1918), allowing a secure passage for the retreated Armenian volunteer forces into Alexandrapol.

General Garegin Nzhdeh and Colonel Ruben Narinian in autumn 1920

After clashing with Turkish forces in Alexandropol, today known as Gyumri, the Armenian fighters led by Nzhdeh dug-in and built fortifications in Karakilisa. Nzhdeh played a key role in organizing the troops for the defense of Karakilisa in May 1918. He managed to mobilize a population of despairing and hopeless locals and refugees for the coming fight through his inspiring speech in the Dilijan church yard, where he called the Armenians to a sacred battle: "Straight to the frontline, our salvation is there." Nzhdeh was wounded in the ensuing clash and, after a violent battle of 4 days, both sides had serious casualties. The Armenians ran out of ammunition and had to withdraw. Although the Ottoman army managed to invade Karakilisa itself, they had no more resources to continue deeper into Armenian territory.[9] After the declaration of the independent First Republic of Armenia, Nzhdeh was appointed governor of Nakhijevan, and later on, in August 1919, commander of the southern corps of the Armenian army.[10]

Republic of Mountainous Armenia emblem

Nzhdeh in Goris, Republic of Mountainous Armenia (1921)

The Soviet 11th Red Army's invasion of the First Republic of Armenia started on 29 November 1920. Following the Sovietization of Armenia on 2 December 1920, the Soviets pledged to take steps to rebuild the army, to protect the Armenians and not to persecute non-communists, although the final condition of this pledge was reneged when the Dashnaks were forced out of the country.

The Soviet Government proposed that the regions of Nagorno-Karabagh and Zangezur should be part to the Soviet Azerbaijan. This step was strongly rejected by Nzhdeh. A convinced anti-Bolshevik, he led the defense of Syunik against the rising Bolshevik movement and declared Syunik as a self-governing region in December 1920. In January 1921 Drastamat Kanayan sent a telegram to Nzhdeh, suggesting allowing the sovietization of Syunik, through which they could gain the support of the Bolshevik government in solving the problems of the Armenian lands. As a response, Nzhdeh did not depart from Syunik and continued his struggle against the Red Army and Soviet Azerbaijan, struggling to maintain the independence of the region.[11][12] On 18 February 1921, the Dashnaks led an anti-Soviet rebellion in Yerevan and seized power. The ARF controlled Yerevan and the surrounding regions for almost 42 days before being defeated by the numerically superior Red Army troops later in April 1921. The leaders of the rebellion then retreated into the Syunik region.

The 2nd Pan-Zangezurian congress, held in Tatev, announced on 26 April 1921 the independence of the self-governing regions of Daralakyaz (Vayots Dzor), Zangezur, and Mountainous Artsakh, under the name of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia (Lernahaystani Hanrapetutyun).

Following the declaration of independence of the Republic of the Mountainous Armenia from Soviet Armenia, he was proclaimed Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Between April and July 1921, the Red Army conducted massive military operations in the region, attacking Syunik from north and the east. After months of fierce battles with the Red Army, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia capitulated in July 1921 following Soviet Russia's promises to keep the mountainous region as a part of Soviet Armenia. After the conflict, Nzhdeh, his soldiers, and many prominent Armenian intellectuals, including leaders of the first independent Republic of Armenia, crossed the border into the neighboring Iranian city of Tabriz.

Nzhdeh in the 1930s

Nzhdeh at the founding of the Armenian Youth Federation in Boston in 1933

After leaving Syunik, Nzhdeh spent four months in the city of Tabriz. Soon after, he moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he settled and married Yevphime, a local Armenian woman. They had one son together named Vrezh.[13]

Nzhdeh was involved in organizational activities in Bulgaria, Romania and the United States through his frequent visits to Plovdiv, Bucharest and Boston.

In 1933, by the decision of ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Nzhdeh moved to USA along with his partisan, Kopernik Tanterjian. He visited several states and provinces in United States and Canada, inspiring the Armenian communities that had established themselves there, and founding an Armenian youth movement called Tseghakron (Armenian: Ցեղակրոն) (see Tseghakronism) in Boston, Massachusetts, which later renamed itself the "Armenian Youth Federation", and functions to this day as the youth wing of the ARF.

In 1937, he was back in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he began to publish the Razmig Armenian newspaper. At the end of the 1930s, along with a group of Armenian intellectuals in Sofia, he founded the "Taron Nationalist Movement" and published its organ Taroni Artsiv ("Eagle of Taron") newspaper. At some point in the late 1930's, Nzhdeh was expelled from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, reportedly for his extreme and racist views, although ARF newspapers would continue to publish his articles.[14]

During his life in Bulgaria, Nzhdeh maintained close contacts with revolutionary organizations of Macedonian Bulgarians and Bulgarian Symbolist poet Theodore Trayanov.[15]

House of Nzhdeh in Sofia

During World War II, Nzhdeh suggested supporting the Axis powers if the latter would make a decision to attack Turkey. Operation Gertrud, a joint German-Bulgarian project about attacking Turkey in the event that Ankara joined the allies, was largely discussed in Berlin.[16] In 1942, Nzhdeh was invited by Artashes Abeghyan to serve on the Armenischen Nationalen Gremiums (Armenian National Council) in Berlin, a collaborationist body created by Nazi Germany.[17] That year the Nazis created the Armenische Legion, comprised mostly of captured Soviet Armenian prisoners of war, and placed it under the command of veteran ARF leader Drastamat Kanayan.[17]

The Armenian battalions were sent to the Crimean peninsula on the Eastern Front in 1943. During the war, Nzhdeh went with Dro to Nazi-occupied Crimea and then to the North Caucasus, but returned to Bulgaria after the retreat of the German army.[14] On 9 September 1944 Nzhdeh wrote a letter to Stalin offering his support were the Soviet leadership to attack Turkey.[18] A Soviet plan to invade Turkey in order to punish Ankara for collaboration with the Nazis and also for returning the occupied Western Armenia territories was intensely discussed by the Soviet leadership in 1945–1947.[19][20] The Soviet military commanders told Nzhdeh that the idea of collaboration was interesting but in order to be able to discuss it in more details, Nzhdeh would have needed to travel to Moscow.[21] He was transferred to Bucharest and later to Moscow, where he was arrested and held in the Lubyanka prison. According to another account, Nzhdeh went into hiding after the Communist takeover in Bulgaria in 1944, before turning himself in to the authorities some months later, after which he was transferred to Moscow.[13]

After his arrest, Nzhdeh's wife and son were sent to exile from Sofia to Pavlikeni.

In November 1946, Nzhdeh was sent to Yerevan, Armenia, awaiting trial. At the end of his trial, on 24 April 1948, Nzhdeh was charged with "counterrevolutionary" activities in 1920–1921 and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment (to begin in 1944).[22]

Commemorative plaque on the house of Nzhdeh in Sofia, where he was arrested in 1944

In 1947 Nzhdeh proposed an initiative to the Soviet government. It would call for the foundation of a pan-Armenian military and political organization in the Armenian diaspora for the liberation of Western Armenia from Turkish control and its unification to Soviet Armenia. Despite the reputed great interest shown by the communist leaders to this initiative, the proposal was eventually refused.

Between 1948 and 1952 Nzhdeh was kept in Vladimir Prison, then until the summer of 1953 in a secret prison in Yerevan. According to his prison fellow Hovhannes Devedjian, Nzhdeh's transfer to Yerevan prison was related to an attempt to mediate between the Dashnaks and the Soviet leaders to create a collaborative atmosphere between the two sides. After long negotiations with the state security service of Soviet Armenia, Nzhdeh and Devejian prepared a letter in Yerevan prison (1953) addressed to the ARF leader Simon Vratsian, calling him for co-operation with the Soviets regarding the issue of the Armenian struggle against Turkey. However, the communist leaders in Moscow refused to send the letter and it only remained a latent document.

After receiving a telegram from the Soviet authorities, announcing his death, Nzhdeh's brother Levon left Yerevan for Vladimir to take care of his burial service. He received Nzhdeh's watch and clothing but was not allowed to take his personal writings, which would be published in Yerevan several years later. The authorities also did not allow the transfer of his body to Armenia. Levon Ter-Harutiunian conducted Nzhdeh's burial in Vladimir and wrote on his tombstone in Russian "Ter-Harutiunian Garegin Eghishevich (1886–1955)".

Funerals and memorials

Nzhdeh's tombstone at the Spitakavor Monastery

Garegin Nzhdeh's memorial in Kapan opened in 2003[24]

The monumental statue of Nzhdeh in Yerevan, erected in May 2016

On 31 August 1983, Nzhdeh's remains were secretly transferred from Vladimir to rest in Soviet Armenia. The process was fulfilled through the efforts of Pavel Ananyan, the husband of Nzhdeh's granddaughter, with the help of linguistics professor Varag Arakelyan and others, including Gurgen Armaghanyan, Garegin Mkhitaryan, Artsakh Buniatyan, and Zhora Barseghyan. On 7 October 1983, the right hand of Nzhdeh's body was placed on the slopes of Mount Khustup near Kozni fountain, as Nzhdeh had once expressed the wish "when you find me killed, bury my body at the top of Khustup to let me clearly view Kapan, Gndevaz, Goghtan and Geghvadzor...".

According to the participants at the funeral, the rest of Nzhdeh's body was kept in the cellar of Varag Arakelyan's house in the village of Kotayk until 9 May 1987, when it was secretly transferred to Vayots Dzor and buried in the churchyard of the 14th-century Spitakavor Surb Astvatsatsin Church near Yeghegnadzor.[25] Nzhdeh's gravestone was erected through the efforts of Paruyr Hayrikyan and Movses Gorgisyan on 17 June 1989, a day that later turned into an annual pilgrimage day to the monastery's graveyard.

Decades after his death, on 30 March 1992, Nzhdeh was rehabilitated by the supreme court of the newly independent Republic of Armenia.

On 26 April 2005 during the celebration of the 84th anniversary of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, parts of Nzhdeh's body were taken from the Spitakavor Church to Khustup. Thus, Nzhdeh was reburied for the third time, finally to rest on the slopes of Mount Khustup near Nzhdeh's memorial in Kapan.[26]

In March 2010, Nzhdeh was selected as the "National pride and the most outstanding figure"[27] of Armenians throughout the history by the voters of "We are Armenians" TV project launched by "Hay TV" and broadcast as well by the Public Television of Armenia (H1).[28]

In Yerevan, a public square and metro station are named after Nzhdeh.

Nzhdeh, Armenia, a village in the Syunik Province of Armenia, is named after Nzhdeh.

• "The Pantheon of Dashnaktsutyun", Alexandrapol 1917
• "Calls of Khustup", Goris 1921
• "My Speech – Why I Fought against the Soviet Army", Bucharest 1923
• "Some Pages from my Diary", Cairo 1924
• "Open Letters to the Armenian Intelligentsia", Sofia 1926 and Beirut 1929
• "The Struggle of Sons against Fathers", Thessaloniki 1927
• "The Motive of the Soul of the Nation", Sofia 1932
• "The American Armenians – The Tribe and its Gutter", Sofia 1935
• "My Answer", Sofia 1937
• "Autobiography", Sofia 1944
• "Thoughts – Notes from Jail", Yerevan 1993
• Selected Works of Garegin Nzhdeh, translated by Eduard Danielyan, ISBN 978-0-9783096-0-2, 2011, 164 pp.

• The Battle of Lernahayastan, by Vartan Kevorkian, Bucharest 1923
• Nzhdeh, by Avo, Beirut 1968
• The Memories of a Prisoner, by Armen Sevan (Hovhannes Devedjian), Buenos Aires 1970
• Garegin Nzhdeh, published in the memory of his 110th anniversary, Yerevan 1996
• Garegin Nzhdeh: Analecta, contains Nzhdeh's ideologies, thoughts, letters, speeches and other writings, Yerevan 2006
• Nzhdeh: The Complete Biography, by Rafael Hambardzumian, Yerevan 2007
• Selected Works of Garegin Nzhdeh English Translation and Commentaries by Eduard Danielyan, Doctor of History; Publisher: "Nakhijevan" Institute of Canada, Montreal, 2011.

Films

• The Path of the Eternal, by Arthur Babayan and Armen Tevanian.
• Garegin Nzhdeh, a documentary film within the Why Is the Past Still Making Noise? series, produced in 2011 by the Public TV of Armenia.
• Garegin Nzhdeh, film premiered on 28 January 2013 in Yerevan's Moscow Cinema, produced by HK Productions.

• About Nzhdeh in Armenian in website nzhde.com
• Garegin Nzhdeh Movie 2013 in website kkkino.ru