Murad of Sebastia (, ''Sebastatsi Murad''; Murad of Sebastia; Murad Khrimian; Murad Hagopian; 1874 — 4 August 1918) was a well-known Armenian fedayee during the Armenian national liberation movement in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

Biography

He was born in the Armenian village of Govdun (Կովտուն), about 20 km east of the town of

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

(from where he got his nickname, ''Sebastatsi'') to a poor rural family that had recently moved to the village. After working as a shepherd and farm labourer during his childhood, he moved as a teenager to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, where he worked for meagre earnings as a carrier. He joined the

Social Democrat Hunchakian Party The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) (), is the oldest continuously-operating Armenian political party, founded in 1887 by a group of students in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the first socialist party to operate in the Ottoman Empire and i ...

and, in the 1890s, participated in Armenian demonstrations protesting against the second-class treatment of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. After assassinating an Armenian informer he escaped to Greece and then to Egypt. He then became a member of the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenians, Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, Literal translation, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalist a ...

, joined fedayee bands, and participated in guerrilla activities in response to the

Hamidian massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide a ...

. In 1904 he played a visible role during the Sasun Uprising,Garegin Pasdermadjian, "Why Armenia Should be Free: Armenia's Role in the Present War," translated by Aram Torossian, page 22. and then started to operate in

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

. During the Armenian-Tatar massacres 1905-1907, he was designated head of defense of the

Zangezur Zangezur () is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar Iran according to the Treaty of Gulistan ...

region and, gathering a group of 50 horsemen, he defended the Armenian population of Kapan from massacres. An amnesty following the

Young Turk The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, a ...

revolution of 1908 allowed Murad to return to the Ottoman Empire, where he worked in Van and in Sivas. In particular, he participated in the organization of a network of schools and charitable and female societies, and taught physical culture and theatrical art at Armenian schools.

World War I

At the beginning of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

in 1915, Murad was at Sivas. After the order of deportation, in March 1915, Turkish gendarmes were sent to arrest Murad on the order of the Vali of Sivas. The Ottoman authorities had promised the Armenian population that they would be excluded from deportations if they handed Murad over. Many Armenians, particularly the elders who did not want to leave their property and home, began to report to the Ottoman authorities about his whereabouts. Escaping capture, Murad and a small band of compatriots took to the hills and engaged in guerilla warfare against Turkish cavalry and infantry units sent to find him. In the autumn of 1915 he moved towards the Black Sea coast at

Samsun Samsun is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. The urban area recorded a population of 738,692 in 2022. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of ...

where, joined by some Greek rebels, he captured a sailboat and escaped to the Russian port of

Batum Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the second-largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest, north of the border ...

. He then travelled to Tiflis and joined the First Armenian Volunteer Battalion in the Russian forces. When in Tiflis, he gave an account of his adventures, and the fate of the Armenian population of the Sivas vilayet, that appeared in

James Bryce James Bryce may refer to: * James Bryce (geologist) (1806–1877), Irish naturalist and geologist * James Bryce (footballer) (1884–1916), Scottish footballer * James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce (1838–1922), British jurist, historian and politicia ...

's report "The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire". He was with the Armenian Volunteer Battalion at the

Battle of Erzinjan A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

, and in Erzingan he organised a fund which rescued hundreds of Armenian women and children being held in Turkish and Kurdish households. He was killed leading a charge against Turkish positions during the

Battle of Baku The Battle of Baku (, , ) took place in August and September 1918 between the Ottoman– Azerbaijani coalition forces led by Nuri Pasha and Bolshevik– ARF Baku Soviet forces, later succeeded by the British–Armenian– White Russian forces ...

on 4 August 1918.Garegin Pasdermadjian, "Why Armenia Should be Free: Armenia's Role in the Present War," translated by Aram Torossian, page 22.

References

External links

Mourad de Sébasti. Par Isabelle Kaprielian-Churchill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murad of Sebastatsi 1874 births 1918 deaths People from Sivas vilayet Armenian fedayi Armenian nationalists Armenian people of World War I Armenian genocide survivors Armenians from the Ottoman Empire

Biography

World War I

See also

References

External links