Simon Vratsian

Simon Vratsian (Armenian: Սիմոն Վրացյան, 1882, Great Sala Armenian: Մեծ Սալա, Armenian pronunciation: [mɛdz sɑlɑ], village of New Nakhichevan, Russia - 21 May 1969, Beirut, Lebanon) was an Armenian political figure and the last Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Armenia.

After education at Armenian and Russian schools he joined the Dashnak party. He received further education at the Gevorgian seminary from 1900 to 1906. Vratsian returned to Nor Nakhichevan as Dashnak party worker and took part in the 4th general congress of Dashnaktsutiun at Vienna in 1907; where he supported the adoption of socialism. In 1908 he traveled to St. Petersburg to study law and education. He travelled to the United States in 1911 where he edited the Hairenik newspaper. In 1914 he made his way to the 8th general congress of Dashnaktsutiun in Ottoman Empire. He was elected to the party's Bureau and mixed with the leaders of the Young Turks. In August 1914 he was jailed as a Russian spy, but escaped to Transcaucasia, where he became involved with the Armenian volunteer units who fought with the Russian army. After the disbandment of the units he attended the Moscow state conference, the Armenian National Congress, and was elected a member of the National Council. Hovhannes Katchaznouni asked him to accompany him on his tour of Europe and America in 1919, but he was refused a visa by the British as they saw him as a radical socialist. In the same year he was appointed to ministry of labour, agriculture and state positions in Aleksandr Khatisyan's Cabinet. His positions carried over to the government of Hamo Ohanjanyan; he also assumed responsibilities for information and propaganda. After the resignation of the government and the failure of Hovhannes Katchaznouni to form a coalition, Vratsian accepted post of Prime Minister on 24 November 1920. On 2 December he handed over Armenia to the Bolsheviks. He subsequently went into hiding, and later emerged as President of the Committee for the Salvation of the Fatherland. He also appealed to Europe and Turkey for assistance against the Bolsheviks. Vratsian then travelled over Europe, settling in Paris to edit the Droshak from 1923 to 1925. In 1945 he presented a petition to the UN General Assembly at San Francisco demanding the restoration of Wilsonian Armenia held by Turkey to Armenia.

In the Beirut-based "Nayiri" weekly, v. 12, nos. 1-6 were published Shahan's memoirs about Talaat's assassination. There, Shahan revealed his orders to Tehlirian: "You blow up the skull of the Number 1 nation-murderer and you don't try to flee. You stand there, your foot on the corpse and surrender to the police, who will come and handcuff you." Shahan Natalie's purpose was to turn Soghomon Tehlirian's trial into the political trial of those responsible for the Great Tragedy, which was realized in part. However, there were those in the ARF leadership, Simon Vratsian in particular, who had two chapters deleted from Tehlirian's memoirs - before their printing - which dealt with Shahan Natalie's key role in the assassination of Talaat

On 29 December 1926, the ARF Bureau, with four votes in favor and one against (Shahan) decided to join the Promethean Alliance, which declared the Turk as defender of the Caucasian people.

During his lifetime he edited various now defunct Armenian periodicals and newspapers, including Harach and Horizon.

References

This article contains content from the defunct wiki, HierarchyPedia, used here under the GNU Free Documentation License.