Machluto

Machluto (General Smbat) with Andranik

Gravestone in St. Gajane Church

Machluto ( Armenian Մախլուտո ; * 1875 as Սմբատ Բորոյան Smbat Borojan in Muş , Vilâyet Bitlis , Ottoman Empire ; † 1956 in Yerevan , Armenian SSR , Soviet Union ), also known as General Smbat , was an Armenian Fedai commander of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation . He was instrumental in the resistance to the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. He was known as a companion of General Andranik Ozanian Pascha.

Early years

Smbat received his education in the Saint Garabed Monastery of Mus. Inspired by stories about the Armenian guerrillas (fedayeen), Smbat dropped out of school with his friend Levon in the mid-1880s at the age of 15 to join the Vardanantz group, a subunit of the fedayeen. At first he did auxiliary work there before taking on military duties.

Revolutionary activities

Machluto was present in most of the fighting in the Van - Taron region in the 1890s . He fought alongside other fedayeen such as Kevork Çavuş , Andranik Pascha , Keri and Murad of Sebasteia . During the massacre of the Armenians in 1894–1896 , Machluto Andranik Pasha helped defend the persecuted Armenians from the increasing attacks of the Ottoman army and Kurdish aggressors. Machluto was also involved in the Sason resistance in 1904 . Then Andranik Paşa, Kevork Çavuş, Sivaslı Murad and Machluto went with another 200 fighters to Van, the fedayeen took position on the island of Aghtamar . The Turks sent heavily armed ships, but the insurgents were able to repel the attacks. As a result, they split up. One group went to Sason with Kevork Çavuş, the other with Andranik Pascha across the Persian border to the Caucasus . In 1907 Machluto fought at the Battle of Suluch, in which Kevork Çavuş was killed. In 1908 he was involved with Yeprem Khan in the Constitutional Revolution in Persia. In 1914, Machluto became General Andranik's fedayeen commander on the Caucasus Front , a sideline of the First World War .

Genocide against the Armenians

Machluto was deputy commander during the Armenian genocide. From 1915 to 1916 Machluto and Andranik were involved in the fighting over Van . In 1916 they took part on the side of the Russians in the Battle of Bitlis against Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and in the Battle of Dilman . Machluto was wounded and taken to Tbilisi . His wife was killed by the Turks. In 1917 the Bolshevik Revolution led to the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from the Armenian front. The Armenians began to set up their own combat units to protect the borders. The situation of the Armenians worsened with the offensive of the Turkish troops in the Armenian highlands . Andranik and Machluto were forced to withdraw to the Muş Sasun area. In mid-1917, Machluto became the commander of the Chanus-Manaskert region. In late 1917 and early 1918 the new Turkish offensive forced the Armenian soldiers to retreat. Andranik and Machluto then relocated most of their soldiers to hold the Erzurum Line.

First Republic of Armenia

As a result of the Turkish invasion of Armenia in 1918, Machluto and his soldiers were forced to retreat to Sartarapad (Serdarabat). Machluto was tasked with mobilizing troops to defend the Armenian border. The militias were at odds with the new Armenian government, which was negotiating a peace treaty with the Turks . Machluto and Andranik rejected this treaty as it would annul Armenian claims on western Armenia . During the Second Congress of Western Armenians in 1919, Machluto was elected a member of the executive body that was to act until a joint government of the United Armenia was formed. After the Armenian government signed the Treaty of Batumi, Machluto and Andranik went to Sangesur to fight against Azerbaijani insurgents who opposed the newly formed government. In 1920, Turkish patriots under Kâzım Karabekir launched a second invasion of Armenia. Machluto rose to the rank of general and was seriously wounded on September 22, 1920. The conquest of most of Armenia led to the resignation of the government and the sovietization of the Republic of Armenia . The communist government began a purge against former Dashnak nationalists, politicians and the military. Many were arrested and executed. On February 13, 1921, Machluto - still wounded - went to the Aragaz - Talin region and took part in a revolt against the communist regime. On February 17, his army occupied Yerevan, carried out a coup and installed Simon Wrazjan as prime minister. Many of those persecuted by the communist regime were subsequently released. It was found that over 75 political prisoners had been killed in Yerevan prison, including Armenian volunteer commanders Hamazasp and Gabriel Korganyan. After the Soviet occupation of neighboring Georgia , fear spread that the Red Army would take Armenia . The Armenian Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks agreed that there would be no more persecution if the Armenian putschists stopped their activities. The provisional government dissolved and the majority of the members fled to other countries. The communists took Yerevan again on April 2, 1921.

Next life

Machluto fled to Sjunik and finally across the border into the Persian Empire. From there he emigrated to Fresno , California in the United States . In the USA he met his former comrades, including General Andranik. In 1946 Machluto returned to Soviet Armenia via France . He spent the remaining ten years of his life peacefully in Yerevan, where he worked as the cemetery caretaker of the Komitas cemetery . During this time he continued to have contact with his comrades from the former volunteer associations. Machluto died of natural causes in his home in 1956. He was buried near the Church of St. Gajane in Etchmiadzin .

His memoirs formed the basis of Chatschik Daschtenz 'novel Rantschparneri Kantsche ("The Call of the Ploughers").

Individual evidence

1. ^ Armenia, the survival of a nation , by Christopher J. Walker, Croom Helm, 1980, p. 417
2. ↑ Армянский вопрос: Энциклопедия, ред. Константин Худавердян, Гл. ред. Арм. энциклопедии, 1991, p. 84
3. ^ Armenia, the survival of a nation , by Christopher J. Walker, Croom Helm, 1980, p. 417
4. ^ Dro ( Drastamat Kanayan ): Armenia's First Defense Minister of the Modern Era , by Antranig Chalabian, 2010, p. 146
5. ↑ Zoravar Smbat, ARFD history
6. ^ Armenia, the survival of a nation , by Christopher J. Walker, Croom Helm, 1980, p. 417
7. ^ The Republic of Armenia: The first year, 1918-1919 , by Richard G. Hovannisian, p. 454
8. ↑ Zoravar Smbat, ARFD history