| Aghpyur Serob (Աղբյուր Սերոբ) |
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Serob Pasha with two ammunition belts strewn across his neck and a rifle in hand in an undated photograph. |
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| Born | Serob Vardanian (Սերոբ Վարդանյան) 1864 Sokhord, Bitlis Province, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1899 (aged 34–35) Gelieguzan, Bitlis Province, Ottoman Empire |
| Cause of death | Poisoned |
| Resting place | head in Surb Karmrak Church (Bitlis) and body in Gelieguzan village |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Other names | Serob Pasha |
| Years active | 1891-1899 |
| Known for | A famed Armenian fedayee |
| Home town | Sokhord |
| Political party | Dashnaktsutyun |
| Religion | Armenian Apostolic Church |
| Spouse | Sose Mayrig |
Serob Vartanian, more prominently known by his nom de guerre Aghbiur Serob (Armenian: Աղբյուր Սերոբ) or Serob Pasha (Սերոբ Փաշա, 1864, Sokhord, Khlat, Bitlis Province - Gelieguzan, Sasun, November 1, 1899) born Serob Vardanian (Սերոբ Վարդանյան) was a famed Armenian military commander who organized a guerrilla network that fought against the Ottoman Empire during the latter 19th century.
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Around the age of twenty, he got into a fight with two Turks and ended up killing one of them. The murder forced him to flee to Constantinople. In 1892, he travelled to Romania and opened a coffee shop there with the intention to use it as a place to meet young revolutionaries. He eventually joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and returned to Ottoman Armenia, in the province of Bagesh, where he took up arms to defend the local Armenian population from Ottoman and Kurdish attackers.[1] In 1888, in the village of Babshen in Bitlis, a Kurdish expedition was sent by the Ottomans to capture and kill Serop. The Kurds began their offensive at 3:00 a.m., surrounding Serop and his feedayes. The battle continued until sunrise when Serop and his feedayes managed to escape. After the Battle of Babshen, Serop was given the title of "Pasha".
It is also around this time he gained his pseudonym Aghpur, given to him by the Armenian population because he had the "heart of a lion" and was very courteous. The local Armenian population would often say "Veruh Asdvadz, Vahruh Serop" (literally "God is up there, Serop is down here") which figuratively means "If God is protecting us from the sky, Serop is protecting us from the ground." During his life as a general, Serop commanded famous fedayees such as Andranik Ozanian, Kevork Chavoush, Balabekh Garabed and others.[2]
In 1899, while meeting with several other compatriots, Serob Vardanian had his pipe poisoned by a fellow Armenian who had been bribed by Kurdish brigands. The Kurdish brigands, led by Khalil, surrounded the house with hundreds of fighters. A gunfight erupted between the Kurds and the Armenians, the latter having in its ranks twelve of Serob's personal guard, his wife Sose Mayrig and Serob's son Hagop. The Kurds managed to defeat the outnumbered Armenians, killing in the process Serob, his son, and twelve of his men including the town priest. Sose Mayrig who was wounded, was taken prisoner. Khalil severed Serob's head and placed it on a pike as a warning to all other Armenian freedom fighters.[3]
A mission led by fellow Armenian guerrilla, Zoravor Andranik Ozanian, tracked down the Kurds to the Armenian's house. They killed both the organizers and most notably the traitor Armenian's family, stating that betrayal should be cut down at its roots.[4]