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Hero Who Inspirited Armenian Champions Of Independence - Today Marks

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  • Hero Who Inspirited Armenian Champions Of Independence - Today Marks

    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.

    http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/02/25/andranikozanian/1599999



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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