Hamazasp Srvandztyan | |
---|---|
Birth name | Hamazasp Srvandztyan |
Nickname(s) | Hamazasp |
Born | 1873 Van, Ottoman Empire |
Died | 18 February 1921 Yerevan, Soviet Armenia |
(aged 47–48)
Allegiance |
Dashnaktsutyun (1890s–1920) Russian Empire (1914–1917) Republic of Armenia (1918–1920) |
Service/branch | Russian Armenian Volunteer Corps |
Years of service | 1890s—1920 |
Commands held | 3rd Armenian volunteer battalion |
Battles/wars |
Armenian National Liberation Movement |
Armenian National Liberation Movement
Armenian–Tatar War
World War I
Hamazasp Srvandztyan (Armenian: Համազասպ Սրվանձտյան; 1873 – 18 February 1921), commonly known as Hamazasp, was an Armenian fedayee military commander and member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
Hamazasp was born in Van in 1873. He was the nephew of the folklorist Garegin Srvandztiants. Hamazasp was first a member of the Armenakan Party and then the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. After finishing school he began to learn handicraft as a jeweler and a watchmaker. From an early age he was involved in the Armenian national liberation movement. To avoid persecution by the Ottoman government, he moved to Yerevan, then to Shusha from Van.
He participated in the Armenian–Tatar clashes of 1905–07. Hamazasp was especially notable in the Battle of Askeran Ravine on 22 August 1905, defeating a 200-member Turkish detachment of which only 6 survived. He also organized the defense of the Armenian villagers of the Elisabethpol Governorate. In 1908, the Tsarist government arrested Hamazasp and condemned him to death, but this was replaced by a 15 years of exile to Siberia sentence. In 1913 he escaped from prison and went to Europe, then to Constantinople. At the 8th General Assembly of the ARF party that took place in Karin in 1914, he was strongly opposed to any cooperation with the Young Turks.