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.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress