Birth of Ler Kamsar - October 24, 1888

Together with Nishan Beshigtashlian (1898-1972), Ler Kamsar (pseudonym of Aram Der Tovmaghian, wrongly recorded as Tovmasian) may be considered the worthy heir of Hagop Baronian and Yervant Odian in Armenian satirical literature after 1920. 

Ler Kamsar was born on October 24, 1888 in Van. His father was a priest. He received his elementary education in the local American school. He graduated from the Kevorkian Lyceum in Etchmiadzin (1909) and returned to Van, where he worked as an actor and then as a teacher in the school of the Holy Cross monastery of Aghtamar and the Yeramian School.

His first satirical piece appeared in the “Ashkhadank” newspaper of Van in 1909 that made him instantly famous. His literary pseudonym was born at this time. When he went to the editorial offices to deliver his writing, they asked him under what name they should publish it. As he was leaving, he nonchalantly said, “Krek ler kam sar” (write ler or sar).  Both words mean “mountain” in Armenian, and the editors turned the option “ler or sar” into Ler Kamsar.

 

In 1915 he participated in the self-defense of Van, during the days of the Armenian genocide. His home was one of the defense positions against Turkish attacks. After the evacuation of Van, he left for Yerevan, where he continued contributing to many newspapers of the Caucasus. Many of his writings had been lost on the road to exile. In 1918 he published a satirical piece on Lenin in the daily “Horizon” of Tiflis that became one of the causes for his disgrace during Soviet times. The piece was called “The Letter of Czar Nicholas to Ulyanov Lenin.”

 

After the sovietization of Armenia, Ler Kamsar was a regular contributor to the organ of the Armenian Communist party, “Khorhrdayin Hayastan.”  He published three works during this period: Apocryphal Deads (1924), National Alphabet (1926) and Wrongful Tears (1934).

 

In 1931, during the purge of kulaks (the so-called “bourgeois” of Soviet times), he was accused of being one, because he owned 40 beehives, from which he made no profit, yet paid 200 rubles in taxes. The persecution continued until 1935, when Ler Kamsar was arrested and incarcerated in Yerevan, charged of organizing an attempt to assassinate Stalin. A ludicrous trial followed and he was sentenced to three years of exile in Vorkuta, a coal-mining town just north of the Arctic Circle, and then seventeen years of internal exile in Armenia, in Basargechar (actual Vardenis), with no right to see his family or publish his writings.

 

He returned to Yerevan in 1955, after a general amnesty, and requested a review of his case by the Supreme Court of Armenia. The Court found him innocent. He noted bitterly, “A small error, but it is interesting they do not offer even a half-hearted apology for their enormous mistake, as elemental courtesy would require.” And he acerbically added: “What about those unfortunate people who learn of their innocence...after being shot?”

 

Twice his files were confiscated and destroyed by the KGB, and the flood of 1946 severely damaged his archives in Yerevan. Many of his works remained unpublished because they were unsuitable for the Soviet regime. He managed to publish one collection of articles in 1959 (Old People, 1959); another collection titled The Man in Home Clothes (1965) was censored because of one article. The resulting stress caused a heart attack that led to his death on November 22, 1965 in Yerevan. Some of his earlier works were published in two volumes in 1980 and 1988. With the independence of Armenia, more of his work is being published and his literary heritage is being reevaluated.

First issue of the first Armenian newspaper, “Azdarar” - October 16, 1794

The small community of India, which was an offspring of the famous Armenian community of New Julfa (Nor Djugha), created in the early seventeenth century near Ispahan (Persia), went into history for two main reasons: the publication of the first draft of an Armenian Constitution (1773) and the birth of the first Armenian newspaper (1794).

Father Harutiun Shmavonian (1750-1824) was born in the city of Shiraz, in Persia. He studied at the local school and learned Armenian and Persian language and literature. Years later, he was sent to Madras, in India, to become the priest of the local church.

After long meditations and preparations, Shmavonian founded a print shop of his own in 1789, the second Armenian printing house in Madras. His publications reflected his interest in books which were able to satisfy the requirements of the Armenian communities. For instance, he published textbooks, such as Baghdasar Dpir’s Grammar of the Mother Language; the translation of Porphyry of Tyre’s Introduction to Categories, and David the Invincible’s Book of Definitions. His collaborator and friend, Fr. Samuel Ghaytmaziants, wrote later: “He always wished the common benefit and the flourishing of the nation; he left aside the care of his family and children, lived in foreign lands, and worked to this effect.”

Shmavonian decided to publish a monthly newspaper. The Armenian community was ripe for such a project. Despite its small size, Armenian intellectuals in Calcutta and Madras were in touch with British and French traders and officials, and read European publications. The publications of the Armenian printing house of Nor Nakhichevan, in the northern Caucasus, were regularly sold in Madras. He was also encouraged by Archbishop Yeprem, who had arrived in India as legate of the Catholicate of Etchmiadzin. 

Azdarar, unlike most of the press of the time, was not primarily coverage of commercial issues. The contents of the monthly were mostly cultural and historical. The print-run was 200 copies.

Many Armenian merchants wrote to the monthly from Madras, Calcutta, Basra, and as far as China and the Philippines. The publication printed news from Yerevan and Shushi, in Karabagh. Most of the articles were written in Classical Armenian (krapar), but some appeared in a mix of classical and vulgar language, which reflected the dialect of New Julfa.

Articles on political and patriotic issues were also included in the monthly, sometimes written by columnists who mostly signed with pseudonyms. 

Azdarar was published for eighteen months until it folded in March 1796 due to economic difficulties. Father Shmavonian continued his activities in community life. He was active as a book publisher until 1817. He passed away in 1824, submerged in poverty.

Father Harutiun Shmavonian’s tomb at the Holy Virgin Armenian Apostolic Church in Chennai (formerly Madras), India

The Battle of Tigranakert - October 6, 69 B.C.

During the reign of Tigran II the Great (95-55 B.C.), Armenia became an empire that extended from the Caspian Sea to Palestine. The Armenian king moved the capital of his reign from Artashat, in the plain of Ararat, to the newly built city of Tigranakert, in the region around the modern city of Diarbekir.
 

Mithridates VI Eupator (111-63 B.C.), King of Pontus (the area to the north of Armenia, on the shore of the Black Sea), had engaged in two wars against Rome. He was defeated for the third time in 71 B.C. by the Roman army, headed by Lucullus. Mithridates fled to Armenia and asked for asylum at the court of his son-in-law, Tigran. 

 

Tigran had managed to stay neutral in the war. Lucullus wanted to get Mithridates at any price and take him to Rome as a trophy and proof of his major victory. Hence he sent a delegation to the court of Tigran II and demanded the extradition of Mithradates. 

 

Tigran refused to comply with Roman demands, since Mithridates was his guest and it would have gone against the principles of hospitality to surrender him to the enemy. However, at the same time Tigran made it clear that he wished for continued peace and friendship between Rome and Armenia, and assured the delegates that he did not have any plans to expand westward, neither towards Asia Minor nor Pontus. 

 

War between Rome and Armenia was inevitable. Only the Roman Senate had the authority to declare it. But the Senate was doubtful, since the war against Pontus had been going on for eighteen years and Romans were afraid that history would repeat itself in Armenia. Besides that, Rome had regarded Armenia as a friendly major power who indirectly acted as an ally against their former enemy, the Seleucids of Syria, but also as a shield against their potentially greatest enemy, Persia. Therefore, Armenia had proven herself as a shield for the West.

  

With the Senate unable to decide whether to start a war against Armenia or not, Lucullus took matters into his own hands and begin preparations for war himself. Thus, he violated the laws of the Roman Republic which gave the Senate the exclusive right to make decisions on warfare and foreign policy. 

 

Shortly after receiving Tigran's response, Lucullus began to prepare his army, a task that took him the entire winter of 70-69 B.C.

 

The Roman general left a legion behind in Pontus in order to maintain the order and began to march towards Melitene (Malatia) with the rest of his army in the spring of 69 B.C. Without declaring war, Lucullus marched over the high land and crossed the Taurus Mountains before the Armenians had had a chance to set up a defensive position in the pass. The Roman army was able to go all the way to Arghana and then move on to finally surround Tigranakert. Tigran was completely surprised by the beginning of the war and by what he probably termed a treacherous attack. After the defeat of a cavalry army of 3,000 he sent to contain Lucullus, Tigran left Tigranakert and hurried to Mush to gather his forces. Meanwhile, the royal palace, highly-walled and well-defended, withstood the Roman siege.

 

Tigran marched his army from Mush through the Taurus Mountain towards Tigranakert and was able to cover the distance between the two cities, which lay 200 kilometers apart, within ten days. There are different accounts about the size of the two armies, but most claims by Roman historians that Tigran’s army had between 200,000-300,000 soldiers are definitely exaggerated. It may be assumed that Tigran’s army had around 80,000 men, which doubled the size of Lucullus’ army.

  

Lucullus left 6,000 of his men behind to continue the siege of Tigranakert, while he, together with the rest of his army, began to march towards the Armenian army. 

 

Mithridates had sent one of his best commanders, Taxiles, to Tigran's aid. He suggested that Tigran should refrain from a direct confrontation and let his light cavalry irritate Lucullus' army with sporadic attacks, thereby cutting off contact between the main forces and their supply and ammunition. This way he would starve Lucullus' army – a move that came to be the classical and successful strategy of the Persians. But Tigran, who had noticed the numerical inferiority of the Roman army, answered: "If these are supposed to be an army and are here to fight, then they are too few; if they are messengers to discuss peace, then they are too many."

 

Since the ground on the other side of the river, where Tigran had his camp, was too steep, Lucullus had chosen to move his army downstream and had taken position in a flat area by the side of the river. The Armenian king thought that the Romans were retreating. However, as soon as the Romans came to a suitable place further down by the river, they crossed it. The Armenian army, mostly composed by non-Armenian forces, had taken position on the opposite side of the river. Tigran was in the core and personally lead the famous heavily armored Armenian cavalry, which was positioned at the rear end of the right flank. This was a fatal mistake, since it exposed such a heavy-moving unit to a grave danger.

 

The skillful Lucullus realized that if he could take out the famous Armenian cavalry, then he would paralyze the entire Armenian force. Therefore he attacked the Armenian army from the side with his special cavalry and from the rear with two infantry legions. The Armenian infantry was made for attacking and not for defense. In order to regroup and to make more maneuvering space, the army forces started to rotate to the only side which was free from attack, i.e. to the left, where Tigran's other forces were positioned, and this resulted in total chaos in the entire Armenian army. This was the seed for a catastrophic defeat for Tigran.

 

The battle ended with the fall of Tigranakert shortly afterwards. The city was plundered and looted; Lucullus was able to capture the enormous treasures of the Armenian court, and also 10,000,000 cubic meters of wheat to provide his hungry army with food.
 

Despite the defeat, Tigran chose to continue the war and put together a new army; the harsh Armenian winter and the continuous attacks of the army finally triggered a mutiny in the Roman troops and forced Lucullus to withdraw from Armenia in 68 B.C. The Roman general was recalled by the Senate.

Demonstration of Bab Ali - September 30, 1895

The three great powers (Great Britain, France, and Russia), backed by Germany, Austria, and Italy, had demanded that Sultan Abdul Hamid II introduce the reforms in the “provinces inhabited by Armenians,” as stipulated by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) in what was called the Armenian Reform Program of May 11, 1895. The refusal of the sultan to carry the reforms led the Social Democratic Hnchakian Party to stage the demonstration of Bab Ali (Great Door or Sublime Porte) in Constantinople on September 30, 1895.

 

The party was represented in the Ottoman capital by the Board of Directors, that give instructions for nearly all party activity in Turkey with the approval of general headquarters at Geneva, and the Executive Committee, which directed the organization work according to the instructions of the Board of Directors.

 

The Executive Committee chose three men to supervise the demonstration after receiving the order from the Board of Directors. The leader was Garo Sahakian. After various discussions, the Board of Directors decided that the demonstration should be peaceful. Months of preparations were ended on September 28, when the Hnchakian Party presented a letter in French to the foreign embassies and to the Turkish government. The letter stated that the demonstration would be “of a strictly peaceful character” and would be aimed to express Armenian wishes with regard to the reforms. It added that “the intervention of the police and military for the purpose of preventing it may have regrettable consequences, for which we disclaim beforehand all responsibility.”

 

The demonstration took place two days later. The Turkish government had taken security measures; soldiers were posted on the streets around administrative buildings, and the police were alerted. Around noon, the Hnchakian leaders entered the Armenian Patriarchate, from where they led thousands of demonstrators to the palace of the Sultan.

 

Garo Sahakian, head of the demonstration, was to present the petition to the Sultan on behalf of both the Armenians of Constantinople and of the six Armenian provinces. The petition, written by the Hnchakian Board of Directors, complained against massacres, unjust arrests, Kurdish injustices, corruption of tax collectors, and the massacre in Sasun (1894). It demanded: (a) equality before the law; freedom of the press; freedom of speech; and freedom of assembly; (b) right of habeas corpus to all persons under arrest, and permission to Armenians to bear arms if the Kurds could not be disarmed; (c) a redrawing of the six Armenian provinces; (d) an European governor for the provinces; and (e) financial and land reforms.

 

Garo Sahakian and some demonstrators, after reaching the gates of Bab Ali, were denied entrance by the officer in charge, and Sahakian was seized by the zaptiehs (Turkish police). Brought before a Turkish official, he was imprisoned after delivering the petition. Fighting and violence had already broken out. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested on that day and for several days ensuing. The prisons became crowded with wounded men and scores of dead bodies were collected from the streets of Constantinople.

 

The rioting and bloodshed in Constantinople alarmed the Turkish government and disturbed Europe. The Ottoman Council of Ministers assembled to discuss the situation, while some of the leading European papers gave much attention to the rioting in Constantinople. Finally, pressure by European governments induced Sultan Abdul Hamid to sign the Armenian Reform Program on October 17, 1895, about a month after the bloody demonstration. The Hnchakian Revolutionary Party considered this a great victory. However, this signature did not bring peace to Ottoman Armenians. Like so many decrees by the Sultan, this one too became a dead letter.

Birth of Nahabed Rusinian - September 23, 1819

The name of amateur poet Francis Scott Key would not have gone down in history if it not were for his poem “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which later became the U.S. national anthem. Equally, the name of amateur poet Nahabed Rusinian would have not reached us if not for his popular poem “Cilicia,” which later became a cherished song. Rusinian was born in 1819 in the village of Efkere, a few miles northeast of Caesarea (Kayseri). He received his primary education in his birthplace, and at the age of ten he moved with his father, who was a palace painter, to Constantinople. He attended the Armenian school of Scutari, one of the suburbs of the Ottoman capital, where his interest for Armenian language, history, and culture flourished. However, his father’s premature death forced him to leave school and get a job as a translator for a Turkish pasha.

 

The promising Rusinian had gone under the radar of wealthy Armenians, such as Garabed Balian (the imperial architect who built the renowned palace of Dolmabahçe) and writer Krikor Odian’s father, who helped him financially to pursue higher studies. He traveled to Paris, where he attended medical school at the Sorbonne and also followed courses of literature and art as an auditor.

 

The environment of Paris in the 1840s nurtured Rusinian with the elements to develop his interests in language, arts, and philosophy, but also shaped his liberal views, particularly with the 1848 revolutionary wave that swept over Europe. After obtaining his medical degree in 1851, Rusinian returned to Constantinople and, along with his daily work and his teaching duties at the university became an active participant in the political life of the Armenian community. His penchant for free expression and democratic participation threw him into the struggle for democratization of Armenian life in the Ottoman Empire. He joined efforts with his comrades from Paris, Stepan Voskan and Krikor Odian, to put forward the project of a National Constitution (Azkayin Sahmanatrutiun), a legal instrument that would establish the grounds for internal administration within the community. It would also reflect the need for modernization and democratic change that was the driving force of that generation.

 

As part of his quest of modernization, Rusinian was also very active in the promotion and development of the Modern Armenian language (ashkharhapar) as a written language instead of Classical Armenian (krapar). He was a member of the Armenian Educational Council in 1854 when he published his textbook “Orthology” (Ughghakhosutiun), where he made quite radical proposals for the grammar of the language. The heated debates between the partisans of krapar and ashkharhapar would continue for several decades.

 

In 1855, the Armenian Patriarchate forbade the use of Rusinian’s textbook, as well as of his other book, “Calendar of Feasts” (Donatsuyts), because of their eccentric proposals which modified radically both Armenian grammar and calendar.

 

Nahabed Rusinian was among the group of seven intellectuals who drafted the Armenian National Constitution, which was finally approved by Sultan Abdülaziz in 1863. Rusinian passed away in 1876, at the age of 57, victim of a cerebral hemorrhage.

 

The song “Cilicia,” which he wrote and was later put to music by Kapriel Yeranian, has become a cherished song for Armenians from Armenia to the latest corner of the Diaspora. It has also become, unofficially, a hymn of sorts of the Catholicate of the Holy See of Cilicia.

 

As a side note, Armenian scholars have shown a long time ago that “Cilicia” was strongly inspired by French composer and songwriter Frédéric Bérat’s (1801-1855) poem “Ma Normandie,” written in 1836, which incidentally has been used as the semi-official hymn of Jersey, one of the islands of the British Channel, and sometimes as an unofficial hymn of Normandy, in France.

  

For the French text of the song and its English translation, click here. 

 

To hear Cilicia (Giligia) rendered by the Chamber Choir of Yerevan with the Alan Hovhannes Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Krikor Pidedjian, click here.

Battle of Arara - September 19, 1918

The Battle of Arara, on September 19, 1918, was the most remarkable performance of the Armenian Legion. Initially named Légion d’Orient (Eastern Legion), the Armenian Legion was formed in November 1916 as the result of an agreement between Boghos Nubar Pasha, president of the Armenian National Delegation, and the French government. It would be a foreign legion unit within the French army, originally formed by Armenians and Syrians of Ottoman nationality, under the command of French officers.
 

The aim of creating the Legion was to allow Armenians to contribute to the liberation of Cilicia and to help them realize their national aspirations towards the creation of a state in that region, under Ottoman domination. The Legion was to fight only Turks and only in Cilicia.

 

Six battalions were formed, each containing 800 volunteers. Most soldiers were recruited from the survivors of the self-defense of Musa Dagh in 1915, living in refugee camps in Port Said, Egypt. Others were volunteers who came from France, the United States, and even South America.

 

Legionnaire Hovhannes Garabedian (seated)

The Legion was first deployed in Palestine, to help the French and British armies against the Ottoman and German alliance. The Palestinian front was crumbling upon the advance of the British expeditionary forces. The Armenian volunteers had a decisive role in the Battle of Arara, which was part of the Battle of Megiddo. British general Edmund Allenby commended Armenian forces in his official dispatch to the Allied High Command, "On the right flank, on the coastal hills, the units of the Armenian Legion d'Orient fought with great valor. Despite the difficulty of the terrain and the strength of the enemy defensive lines, at an early hour, they took the hill of Dir el Kassis.” Allenby remarked, "I am proud to have had an Armenian contingent under my command. They have fought very brilliantly and have played a great part in the victory.”

 

The Allied victory over the Ottoman-German troops opened the doors for the occupation of Palestine and Syria. After the campaign was ended, the Armenian Legion was deployed in Cilicia. They were active around the cities of Adana and Mersin involved in skirmishes with local civilians and unorganized Turkish militia, as well as protecting the surviving members of the local Armenian population which was returning from the deportation of 1915.

 

In May 1920, Armenians declared an independent state in Cilicia. However, this state was short lived as France disbanded the Armenian Legion and recognized Turkey's sovereignty over the region in 1920. The advancement of the forces of Mustafa Kemal provoked new massacres of the Armenian population and the evacuation of Cilicia by the survivors in 1920-1921.

 

A monument for the Armenian troops killed during the battle of Arara was moved from its original location on the battlefield to Mount Zion in October 1925.

The Catastrophe of Smyrna (September 9-22, 1922)

Smyrna was the second city of the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian population, together with most Armenians from Constantinople, had been spared deportation in 1915. But in 1922, after the success of the Kemalist movement, Armenians and Greek residents were not spared. According to American Consul General George Horton, before the fire of 1922 there were 400,000 people living in the city of Smyrna, of whom 165,000 were Turks, 150,000 Greeks, 25,000 Jews, 25,000 Armenians, and 20,000 foreigners from Italy, France, Great Britain, and the United States.

Greek troops had landed in Smyrna in May 1919. The Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922 ended with the complete victory of the nationalist army headed by Mustafa Kemal. On September 9, 1922, the Kemalist troops occupied Smyrna. Four days later, on September 13, the fire began. It continued for nine days. Estimated Greek and Armenian deaths resulting from the fire and massacres range from 10,000 to 100,000.

The Smyrna Catastrophe Painting by Vasilis Bottas

The fire completely destroyed the Greek and Armenian quarters of the city; the Muslim and Jewish quarters escaped damage. There are different claims about who was responsible for the fire; however, numerous eye witness accounts singled out uniformed Turkish soldiers setting fire to Greek and Armenian homes and businesses.

The testimony of Fatih Rifki Atay, a well-known Turkish writer, editor, Parliament member, and close friend of Mustafa Kemal, is quite important:

“Gavur (infidel) Izmir burned and came to an end with its flames in the darkness and its smoke in daylight. Were those responsible for the fire really the Armenian arsonists as we were told in those days? ... As I have decided to write the truth as far as I know I want to quote a page from the notes I took in those days. ‘The plunderers helped spread the fire... Why were we burning down Izmir? Were we afraid that if waterfront konaks, hotels and taverns stayed in place, we would never be able to get rid of the minorities? When the Armenians were being deported in the First World War, we had burned down all the habitable districts and neighborhoods in Anatolian towns and districts with this very same fear. This does not solely derive from an urge for destruction. There is also some feeling of inferiority in it. It was as if anywhere that resembled Europe was destined to remain Christian and foreign and be denied to us.’

“. . . If there were another war and we were defeated, would it be sufficient guarantee of preserving the Turkishness of the city if we had left Izmir as a devastated expanse of vacant lots? Were it not for Nureddin Pasha, who I know to be a dyed-in-the-wool fanatic and rabble rouser, I do not think this tragedy would have gone to the bitter end. He has doubtless been gaining added strength from the unforgiving vengeful feelings of the soldiers and officers who have seen the debris and the weeping and agonized population of the Turkish towns which the Greeks had burned to ashes all the way from Afyon.

“. . . At the time it was said that Armenian arsonists were responsible. But was this so? There were many who assigned a part in it to Nureddin Pasha, commander of the First Army, a man who Kemal had long disliked ....”

Despite the fact that there were at least 21 Allied warships and other ships in the harbor of Smyrna, the vast majority, citing "neutrality," did not pick up Greeks and Armenians who were forced to flee from the fire, and Turkish military bands played loud music to drown out the screams of those who were drowning in the harbor and who were forcefully prevented from boarding Allied ships. A Japanese freighter, however, dumped all of its cargo and filled itself to the brink with refugees, taking them to safety at the Greek port of Piraeus.

The catastrophe of Smyrna became the last link in the Turkish genocidal chain that had unfolded in 1915.