Diran Chrakian, also known by the pseudonym Indra (Armenian: Ինտրա, 1875, in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire – 1921), was an Armenian poet, writer, painter and teacher, and a victim of Armenian genocide.
Biography
Diran Chrakian (alt spelling: Tcharakian) (Armenian: Տիրան Չրաքեան) was educated at Berberian College of Constantinople, then finished the College of Arts, where his works were appreciated by the famous painter Hovhannes Aivazovsky. Indra worked as a teacher, wrote articles, literary researches and notes. He signed his books "Inner World" (Ներաշխարհ, essays, 1906) and "Cypress Wood" (Նոճաստան, sonnets 1908), with the pseudonym Indra (anagram of his first name).
He became a prominent member of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the Ottoman Empire, having joined the church in 1913.
After the genocide of 1915, he was forced on a 1,000 kilometre death march. He died on the banks of the river Tigris at Diyarbakır in 1921.
Notes
- # Finkel, Caroline, Osman's Dream, (Basic Books, 2005), 57; "Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930..".
- "Treaty of Lausanne".
ARTICLE 91 All grants of patents and registrations of trade-marks, as well as all registrations of transfers or assignments of patents or trade marks which have been duly made since 30th October, 1918, by the Imperial Ottoman Government at Constantinople or elsewhere.
- Heinz, Daniel (9 December 2015). "While Justice Lingers: A nearly forgotten story of Armenian Adventists". Adventist Review. Adventist Review Ministries. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- "While Justice Lingers". 9 December 2015.
In addition to Zadour Baharian, the most prominent Adventist victim of the genocide was certainly Diran Tcharakian.
Sources
- Ցեղին սիրտը Western Armenian poetry, Yerevan, Arevik publ., 1991, ISBN 5-8077-0300-6, p. 705 (biography in Armenian)
- The Heritage of Armenian Literature: Volume III—From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times, Edited by Agop J. Hacikyan, Edward S. Franchuk, Nourhan Ouzounian, and Gabriel Basmajian