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Garegin Ter-Harutiunian
Commander of the Armenian Army, southern corps
In office August 1919 – July 1921
Personal details
Born	200px 1 January 1886 Kznut, Nakhichevan, Russian Empire
Died	21 December 1955 Vladimir, Russian SFSR, USSR
Resting place	200px
Nationality	Armenian
Political party	Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Parent	200px
Awards	"Cross of Bravery" of Bulgarian Army
Signature	File:Njdeh sign.PNG

Garegin Njdeh or Garegin Ter-Harutiunian, Garegin Nzhdeh (Template:Lang-hy) (1 January 1886, Nakhijevan – 21 December 1955, Vladimir, Soviet Union) was an Armenian statesman, fedayee, political thinker, and as a member of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsutyun party was involved in revolutionary activities in Armenia, Bulgaria and Russia, and a member of Hitler’s Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany .

Biography

Education

Garegin Njdeh was born on 1 January 1886 in the village of Kznut, Nakhichevan. He was the youngest of four children born to a local village priest. He lost his father Priest Yeghishe in his childhood Njdeh got his early education at a Russian school in Nakhichevan City. He continued his higher education at the Tiflis Russian Gymnasium school. At the age of 17 he joind the Armnenian liberal movement but shortly after, he moved to St. Petersburg to continue his education in the local university. After two years of studying at the Faculty of Low, he left the St. Petersburg University and returned to the Caucasus in order to participate in the Armenian national movements against the Russian and the Ottoman Empires.

In 1906, Njdeh moved to Bulgaria, where he completed his education at the military college in 1907.

Balkan wars

In the same year he returned to Armenia. In 1908 he joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and participated in teh Iranian revolution along with Yeprem Khan, Andranik Pasha, Kevork Chavoush, and Murad of Sebastia.

In 1909, upon his return to the Caucasus, Njdeh was arrested by the Russian authorities and spent 3 years in prison. In 1912, together with General Andranik Ozanian, he formed an Armenian battalion within Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of the Bulgarian Army to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan wars, for the liberation of Trakya and Macedonia. During the Second Balkan war he was wounded. For the brave and extraordinary performance of the Armenian fighters, Bulgarian military authorities honoured Njdeh with the "Cross of Bravery".

World War I

Prior to the World War I, after an amnesty granted by the Russian authorities in 1914, Njdeh returned to the Caucasus to prepare for the formation of the Armenian volunteer units within the Russian army to fight against the Turks. At the first stage of the war in 1915, he was appointed as an assistant-commander to Drastamat Kanayan of the 2nd Armenian unit. Later on in 1916, he commanded the special Armenian-Yezdi military unit. By 1917, with his small unit, he saved the Armenians of Koghp from being massacred by the invading Turkish forces. After the withdrawal of the Russian army, Njdeh led the battles of Alajay (near Ani, spring 1918), thus allowing a secure passage for the retreated Armenian volunteer forces into Alexandrapol.

Battle of Karakilisa

After clashing with Turkish forces in Alexandrapol, the Armenian fighters led by Njdeh fortified in Karakilisa. He played a key role in organizing the defense of Karakilisa in May 1918. He managed to unite the despaired and the hopeless population for the fight through his inspiring speech in Dilijan church yard, where he called the gathered Armenians for a sacred battle "Straight front, our salvation is there". Njdeh was wounded in the battle and after a violent battle of 4 days, both sides had serious losses. Although the Ottoman army managed to invade Karakilisa, but they had no more forces to continue deeper into Armenian territories.

After the decleration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, Njdeh was appointed as governor of Nakhitchevan, and later on in August 1919 commander of the southern corps of the Armenian army.

Republic of Mountainous Armenia

The Soviet 11th Red Army's invasion of the Democratic Republic of Armenia started on 29 November 1920. Following the sovietization of Armenian on 2 December 2010, the Soviets pledged to take steps to rebuild the army, to protect the Armenians and not to persecute non-communists, although the final condition of this pledge was reneged when the Dashnaks were forced out of the country.

The Soviet Government proposed to leave the disputed regions of Nagorno-Karabagh and Syunik within Soviet Azerbaijan. This step was strongly rejected by Garegin Njdeh. A convinced Anti-Bolshevik, he led the defense of Zangezur against the rising Bolshevik movement, who declared Syunik as a self-governing region in December 1920. On January 1921 Drastamat Kanayan sent a telegram to Njdeh, suggesting allowing the sovietization of Syunik, through which they could gain the support of the Bolshevik government in solving the problems of the Armenian lands. Njdeh again proved himself as a long-sighted politician, he did not depart from Syunik and continued his struggle against the Red Army and Soviet Azerbaijan.

On 18 February 1921, the Dashnaks led an anti-Soviet rebellion in Yerevan and seized power. The ARF controlled Yerevan and the surrounding regions for almost 42 days before being defeated by the numerically superior Red Army troops later in April 1921. The leaders of the rebellion then retreated into the Syunik region.

On 26 April 1921, the 2nd Pan-Zangezurian congress, held in Tatev, announced the independence of the self-governing regions of Daralakyaz (Vayots Dzor), Zangezur, and Mountainous Artsakh, under the name of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia (Lernahaystani Hanrapetutyun).

Following the declaration of independence of the Republic of the Mountainous Armenia from Soviet Armenia, he was proclaimed Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Between April and July 1921, the Red Army conducted massive military operations in the region, attacking Syunik from north and the east. After months of fierce battles with the Red Army, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia capitulated in July 1921 following Soviet Russia's promises to keep the mountainous region as a part of Soviet Armenia. After losing the battle, Garegin Njdeh, his soldiers, and many prominent Armenian intellectuals, including leaders of the first Independent Republic of Armenia, crossed the border into neighboring Persian city of Tabriz.

The movement towards the independence of the Mountainous Armenia was marked with the survival of the Armenian population of Syunik from being massacred by the Tatars of Azerbaijan.

Organizational activities

After leaving Syunik, Njdeh spent four months in the Persian city of Tabriz. Soon after he moved to Sofia where in 1922, he got married to an Armenian girl Epime, establishing a new life in Bulgaria.

Njdeh was involved in organizational activities in Bulgaria, Romania and the United States through his frequent visits to Plovdiv, Bucharest and Boston.

In 1933, by the decision of ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Njdeh moved to USA along with his partisan Copernic Tanterjian. This movement led to the foundation of the Armenian Youth Federation, the youth organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, in Boston, Massachusetts.

He visited several states in America and Canada, encouraging Armenian communities that had established themselves there, and founding an Armenian Youth movement called Tseghakron (Template:Lang-hy), which means “religion of a race”. Njdeh claimed his Nazi and Fascist inspiration: “Today Germany and Italy are strong because as a nation they live and breathe in terms of race.”

In 1937, he was back in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he began to publish "Razmig" Armenian paper. At the end of 1930s, along with a group of Armenian intellectuals in Sofia, he founded Taron Nationalist Movement and published its organ "Taroni Artsiv" paper.

During his life in Bulgaria, Garegin Njdeh maintained close contacts with revolutionary organizations of Macedonian Bulgarians and Bulgarian Symbolist poet poet Theodore Trayanov.

Arrest and trial

Because of being active in Hitler’s Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany in September 1944, Garegin Njdeh was arrested by the soldiers of Stalin's "SMERSH" special brigade in Bulgaria. He has been transferred to Bucharest and then to Moscow where he was kept in Liubianka prison.

After his arrest, Njdeh's wife and son were sent to exile from Sofia to Pavlikeni.

In November 1946, Njdeh was sent to Yerevan for trial. At the end of his trial on 24 April 1948, Njdeh was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment (period beginning from 1944).

Life in prison and death

In 1947, Njdeh proposed an initiative to the Soviet government, calling for the foundation of Pan-Armenian military-political organization in the Diaspora for the liberation of Western Armenia from Turkish occupation and its unification with Soviet Armenia. Despite of the great interest shown by the communist leaders but the proposal was eventually refused.

Between 1948-1952 Njdeh was kept in Vladimir prison, then until the summer of 1953 in a secret prison in Yerevan. According to his prison fellow Hovhannes Devedjian, Njdeh's trasnfer to Yerevan prison was related with an attempt proposed by him to mediate between the Dashnaks and the Soviet leaders to create a collaborative atmosphere between the two sides. After long negotiations with the state security service of Soviet Armenia, Njdeh and Devejian prepared a letter in Yerevan prison (1953) addressed to the ARF leader Simon Vratsian, calling him for co-operation with the Soviets regarding the issue of Armenian struggle against Turkey. But the communist leaders in Moscow refused to send the letter and it was only remained as a document.

After receiving the telegram of his death from the jail officers, Njdeh's brother Levon left Yerevan for Vladimir to take care of his burial service. He received Njdeh's watch and dress but was not allowed to take his personal writings. The authorities did not allow as well to transfer his body to Armenia. Levon Ter-Harutiunian conducted Njdeh's burial in Vladimir and wrote on his tombstone in Russian "Ter-Harutiunian Garegin Eghishevich (1886-1955)".

Njdeh's legacy

In 1983, Njdeh's ashes were secretly brought to Soviet Armenia from Vladimir by linguist Varag Arakelyan. In the same year, only a small part of his ashes was placed on the slopes of Mountain Khustup, and -as the participants of the funeral informed- the rest of the ashes was kept in the cellar of Varag Arakelyan's country-house until 1987, after which it was buried in the yard of Spitakavor Surb Astvatsatsin Church of the 14th century near Yeghegnadzor.

Decades after his death, on 30 March 1992, Njdeh was rehabilitated by the supreme court of the Republic of Armenia.

Njdeh had mentioned in his will that he would like to be buried on the slopes of Mountain Khustup. On 26 April 2005 during the celebration of the 84th anniversary of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, parts of Njdeh's ashes were taken from Spitakavor church to the slopes of Khustup. Thus, Garegin Njdeh was reburied for the third time, finally to rest on the slopes of Mountain Khustup near Njdeh Monument in Kapan.

In March 2010, Njdeh was selected as the "National pride and the most outstanding figure" of the Armenians throughout the history, by the voters of "We are Armenians" TV project launched by "Hay TV" and broadcast as well by the Public Television of Armenia (H1).

An avenue, a large square and a nearby metro station in Yerevan are named after Garegin Njdeh.

Njdeh with no doubt is one of the few figures in Armenian history, whose inspiring character includes both a soldier and a thinker, an orator and a politician, and he is definitely one of the most outstanding people in the whole history of Armenia.

Quotations from Njdeh

Quotations from Garegin Njdeh (translated by Ara Baliozian):

1. The morally depraved can also voice noble principles.

2. Life is constant and endless renewal. Only the morally irresponsible refuse to understand this.

3. Without renewal, a nation dies every hour, every minute. Our political parties either don't understand this or they have no desire to understand it.

4. A nation that fails to do what it can and must do has no right to expect foreign assistance.

5. Nations that are unwilling to defend their own interests condemn themselves to death.

6. When dealing with foreign powers and issues, our press adopts a permissive, forgiving, and subservient tone. With our own internal problems, however, it becomes arrogant, vindictive, vicious.

7. Life is endless renewal. Where there is no renewal there will be spiritual paralysis and a slow death.

8. It is the height of ignorance for a political party to think that it can deny the value of morality in its own conduct and maintain moral integrity within its ranks.

9. To struggle in defense of what is right is not a calamity but a blessing.

10. Undermining the morality of a nation amounts to undermining its strength.

11. Why did I fight against the Soviet Army? Because they invaded my country alongside with the Turks.

12. To live and strive for only what deserves to die for; and to die for only what deserved to live for.

Works

• "The Pantheon of Dashnaktsutyun", Alexandrapol 1917
• "Calls of Khustup", Goris 1921
• "My Speech - Why I Fought against the Soviet Army", Bucharest 1923
• "Some Pages from my Diary", Cairo 1924
• "Open Letters to the Armenian Intelligentsia", Sofia 1926 and Beirut 1929
• "The Struggle of Sons against Fathers", Thessaloniki 1927
• "The Motive of the Soul of the Nation", Sofia 1932
• "The American Armenians - The Tribe and its Gutter", Sofia 1935
• "My Answer", Sofia 1937
• "Autobiography", Sofia 1944
• "Thoughts - Notes from Jail", Yerevan 1993

Documentaries about G. Njdeh

Books:

• "The Battle of Lernahayastan", by Vartan Kevorkian, Bucharest 1923
• "Njdeh", by Avo, Beirut 1968
• "The Memories of a Prisoner", by Armen Sevan (Hovhannes Devedjian), Buenos Aires 1970
• "Garegin Njdeh", published in the memory of his 110th anniversary, Yerevan 1996
• "Garegin Njdeh: Analecta", contains Njdeh's ideologies, thoughts, letters, speeches and other writings, Yerevan 2006
• "Njdeh: The Complete Biography", by Rafael Hambardzumian, Yerevan 2007

Movies:

• "The Path of the Eternal" by Arthur Babyan and Armen Tevanian

References

1. This Land Was Your Land, This Land Was My Land, James Russell
2. Македоно-одринското опълчение 1912-1913. Личен състав по документи на Дирекция "Централен военен архив", София 2006, с. 521 (Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps. Staff according to documents from Directorate Central Military Archives, Sofia 2006, p. 521)
3. Hohanissian, Richard G. (1997) The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. New York. St. Martin's Press, 299
4. "Garegin Njdeh biography". Njdeh.com. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
6. Hairenik Weekly, April 10, 1936
7. Михайлов, Иван. Карекин Нъждех, в. Македонска трибуна, г. 31, бр. 1601, 21 ноември 1957 (Mihaylov, Ivan. Garegin Njdeh, Macedonian Tribune, N 1601, 21.11.1957)
8. This Land Was Your Land, This Land Was My Land, James Russell
9. http://www.a1plus.am/en/social/2005/04/28/14478 A1plus.am - NJDEH WAS RE-BURIED. Retrieved 27 April 2005
10. http://www.menqhayenq.com/en/Aboutproject Menqhayenq.com - We Are Armenians:About Project
11. http://www.menqhayenq.com/en/rating/ Menqhayenq.com - We Are Armenians:Rating
12. "Azad Hye Middle East Armenian Portal: Complete biography of Garegin Njdeh published in Yerevan".

External links

• About Njdeh in Armenian

• 1886 births
• 1955 deaths
• Armenian politicians
• Armenian generals
• People from Nakhchivan
• Armenian revolutionaries
• Armenian Genocide victims