Rafayel Avetisi Ishkhanyan (, 9 March 1922 – 6 February 1995) was an

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n linguist, philologist and historian. He was a professor of the

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

Biography

Ishkhanyan was born in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

in 1922 to Bolshevik revolutionaries Avetis and Haykanush Ishkhanian. His father Avetis was executed in 1937 during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

. In 1939, Ishkhanyan entered the department of philology of

(YSU). He was called up for military service in 1940 and participated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during which he was wounded and taken prisoner, then released from imprisonment and continued his service. After demobilization, he continued his studies and graduated from YSU in 1949. In 1954 he graduated from the Moscow State Library Institute. In 1973 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the subject "History of the language of new Armenian literature". From 1955 to 1963 he held various positions at the

National Library of Armenia The National Library of Armenia () is a national library, national public library in Yerevan, Armenia. It was founded in 1832 as part of the state gymnasium-school of Yerevan. It is the official cultural repository for the entire republic. Histor ...

and at

Matenadaran The Matenadaran (), officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts. It was establ ...

. From 1963 to 1992 he worked at the department of philology of Yerevan State University, teaching modern Armenian, dialect studies, and the history of Armenian literature and language. He was a deputy in the Supreme Council (predecessor to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

) of the Republic of Armenia from 1991 until his death 1995.

Publications

Ishkhanyan's works are generally dedicated to the earliest history of the

n people, to the comparative linguistic analysis of ancient languages, and to printing. He was one of the authors of the

Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia (also rendered ''Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia''; , ''Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran''; ASE) is the first general encyclopedia in the Armenian language. It was published in 1974-1987 by the main editorial office of th ...

. Ishkhanyan held the view that Armenians "were the aborigines of the Armenian plateau who have been living there continuously since the fourth millennium B.C.E at the latest". He frequently wrote in favor of the restoration of

Classical Armenian orthography Classical Armenian orthography, traditional orthography or Mashtotsian orthography ( in classical orthography and in reformed orthography, ''Hayereni tasagan ughakrutyun''), is the orthography that was developed by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th centu ...

. With the emergence of the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement (), also known as the Artsakh movement (), was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast ...

and the independence movement in Armenia, Ishkhanyan also wrote about Armenian-Turkish relations, developing the concept of "the law of excluding the third force" (which was the title of his book published in 1991), which posits that Armenians should not look to a "third force" (i.e., Russia or the West) in order to achieve their national goals and should independently establish relations with their neighbors.

Personal life

Ishkhanyan was married to Byurakn Cheraz-Andreasyan, daughter of prominent Armenian athlete Vahan Cheraz. His son, Avetik Ishkhanian, was a lawyer who headed the Helsinki Committee of Armenia and a former member of the

Karabakh Committee Karabakh Committee () was a group of Armenian intellectuals recognized by many Armenians as the ''de facto'' leaders in the late 1980s. The Committee was formed in 1988, with the stated objective of reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. ...

Books

*Errord Uzhi Batsarman Orenke: Hodvatsner, Azat khosk, (5-8079-0250-5) *Girke Khorhrdayin Hayastanum: Matenagitakan Tsank, Hayastani azgayin grapalat, (99930-50-03-2) *Mer Inknutyan Glkhavor Nshane: (Grakanagitakan Hetazotutyunner), Nairi, (5-550-00429-1) *Patkerazard Patmutyun Hayots, Book 1, 1989, Arevik, (5-8077-0057-0) *Rafael Ishkhanian, Hayeri tzagume yev hnaguin patmutiune (The Origins and Most Ancient. History of the Armenians) (Beirut: Altapress 1984)) *Questions of origin and earliest history of Armenian people, Yerevan 1988 *On the Origin and Earliest History of the Armenian People, trans. N. Ouzounian, Montreal, 1989 *Ksiazka Ormianska W Latach 1512 - 1920, Ossolineum, ISBN 8304041782

References

{{Authority control 1922 births 1995 deaths Academic staff of Yerevan State University Yerevan State University alumni Soviet Armenians Soviet historians Moscow State Art and Cultural University alumni Soviet philologists Armenian philologists 20th-century Armenian historians