Hovhannes Katchaznouni

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Hovhannes Katchaznouni
Յովհաննէս Քաջազնունի
Prime Minister of Armenia
In office
30 May 1918 – 28 May 1919
Preceded by position established
Succeeded by Alexander Khatisyan
Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia
In office
4 November 1920 – 2 December 1920
Preceded by Avetik Sahakyan
Succeeded by Soviet Armenia
Personal details
Born (1868-02-01)February 1, 1868
Akhaltsikhe, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire
Died 1938 (aged 69–70)
Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Armenian
Political party Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Hovhannes Katchaznouni (Armenian: Յովհաննէս Քաջազնունի) (1 February 1868 – 1938) was the first Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia from May 30, 1918 to May 28, 1919. He was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Personal life

Hovhannes Katchaznouni was born in 1868 in the town of Akhaltsikhe, then part of the Russian Empire, now part of Georgia. He attended secondary school in Tiflis from 1877 to 1886. In 1887 he moved to St. Petersburg and was accepted into the Citizens' Architectural Institute, graduating from there with honors in 1893. During his time in St. Petersburg he joining the Dashnaktsutyun political party, eventually becoming one of its most important members. After graduating he worked at the Baku provincial administration from 1893-1895 in the construction department, then as an architect in Batumi from 1895–1897, and then from 1897-1899 as regional architect at the Tiflis provincial administration. He worked as a senior architect in Baku from 1899–1906, designing hospitals and apartment buildings. After 1906 he devoted himself to political and social activities. In 1911 he was required to leave the Caucasus region by a St. Petersburg court ruling because of his activities involving Dashnaktsutyun.[1]

In 1914 he was able to return to his homeland. He became a member of the Armenian National Council in 1917 and was the Dashnak representative in the Seym (the Caucasian Parliament) until 1918. He was on the Armenian committee that conducted peace talks with the Ottoman Empire in Trabzon and Batoum. After the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Federation, he became the first Prime Minister of the independent Armenian state in 1918. He held this position until August 1919. He was arrested after the Bolsheviks came to power in Armenia in 1920. He left Armenia after the 1921 counter-revolutionary revolt against Bolshevik rule was suppressed. Between 1921 and 1924 he lived in Bucharest. In 1925 he returned to Soviet Armenia, to work as an architect in Leninakan. He also taught at Yerevan State University's technical department, giving lectures on construction and architecture. He joined the Construction Institute on its establishment in 1930 and attained the title of professor there.

Katchaznouni became a victim of Stalin's Great Terror. He was arrested in 1937 and imprisoned. The exact date of his death is unknown, it happened in 1937 or 1938.

Report to the 1923 ARF Congress

Katchaznouni prepared a critical report for the April 1923 ARF congress in Bucharest[2][3][4][5] titled "Dashnaktsutyun Has Nothing More to Do," which called for the dissolution of the Party and Armenian support of Soviet Armenia.[6][7][8][9] Its claims immediately drew rebuke from the party.[10][11][12][13] Until recently, the report was best known through its abridged English translation by Matthew Aram Callender, The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnagtzoutiun) Has Nothing to Do Any More and edited by Avedis Boghos Derounian. The translation emanated from the New York branch of the Armenian General Benevolent Union's Armenian Information Service.[14][15][16] The booklet's elusive nature can be attributed to the fact that the Congress was "highly secret and closed to the public" with little information about its circumstances being released.[17]

In 2007 the Turkish historian Mehmet Perinçek,[18] son of the first person to be convicted by a court of law for denial of the Armenian Genocide, Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek, produced a Turkish and English translation of the full text, based on an unabridged Russian copy (printed in Tblisi, 1927) held in the Russian State Library in Moscow.[19]

This story is disputed by some Armenian intellectuals such as Viken L. Attarian, who claim that all of this "discoveries" are actually forgeries of this document, made by alleged Turkish unscrupulous historians to rebuke the fact of the Armenian Genocide,[20] which is proven by the fact that translations of the text into several other languages were published by Kaynak Press, Istanbul, as part of a book series titled "The Lie of 'Armenian Genocide' in Armenian Documents".[21]

Bibliography

  • Katchaznouni, Hovhannes (August 1955). John Roy Carlson (Arthur A. Derounian), ed. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnagtzoutiun) Has Nothing to Do Anymore. Matthew A. Callender. New York: Armenian Information Service.  (Book cover), Full text online
  • Ovanes Kachaznuni. The Hundred and Ten Days in Europe. Baku, 1911 (new edition in Russian, Saint Petersburg, 2013)

References

  1. ↑ Edmond Tigranian, "Contributions of Armenian Architects in the Caucasus near the end of the 19th Century and at the beginning of the 20th Century" p236-241, Yerevan, 2003.
  2. ↑ Tölölyan, Khachig (Summer 1992). "Terrorism in modern Armenian political culture". In L. Winberg. Terrorism and Political Violence (Routledge) 4 (2): 8–22. doi:10.1080/09546559208427146. "...the Party Congress of the ARF (Bucharest and Vienna), November 1992 to April 1923..." 
  3. ↑ Weinberg, Leonard (1992). Political parties and terrorist groups. Routledge. pp. 15–17. ISBN 978-0-7146-3491-3. "(pg.15) ... the Party Congress of the ARF (Bucharest and Vienna, November 1922 to April 1923)... (pg.16) Only months after the congress, Hovhanness Kachaznouni, a government official of independent Armenia and a chief dissenter at the congress, published an expanded version of his arguments, which had not been heeded at the Vienna Convention. The book, Dashnagzootyune Anelik Chooni Aylevs (The ARF No Longer Has Anything To Do, Vienna : Mekhitarist Press, 1923), is a landmark of the party's history. It was banned from party clubs and libraries for decades afterwards...(pg.17) The party, he suggested, should dissolve itself and its former members should join new organizations specifically directed at serving the post-genocide diaspora." 
  4. ↑ Svajian, Stephen G (1977). A trip through historic Armenia. GreenHill. p. 418. "...the manifesto to the 'Dashnag Party Congress' in Bucharest, April 1923.
    His manifesto is entitled, 'Dashnaktzoutune Has Nothing To Do Any More.'"     
  5. ↑ Bast, Oliver (2002). La Perse et la Grande Guerre. Institut français de recherche en Iran. ISBN 978-2-909961-23-1. "...book which was originally 'a manifesto' he had presented to the convention of the foreign branches of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Bucharest, 1923)" 
  6. ↑ Katchaznouni, Hovhannes (July 1923). Dashnaktsutiune anelik chuni ailevs (in Armenian). Vienna: Mechitarist Press. 
  7. ↑ Hovannisian, Richard G. (January 1974). "Dimensions of Democracy and Authority in Caucasian Armenia, 1917-1920". Russian Review (Blackwell Publishing) 33 (1): 37–49. doi:10.2307/127620. JSTOR 127620.  See footnote 12.
  8. ↑ Nassibian, Akaby (1984). Britain and the Armenian question, 1915-1923. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-312-09809-4. "(Dashnaktsutiun Has Nothing To Do Any More) (Vienna, 1923)"  (also London and Sydney: Croom Helm)
  9. ↑ Libaridian, Gerard J (September 1991). Armenia at the Crossroads: Democracy and Nationhood in the Post-Soviet Era. Blue Crane Books. p. 20. ISBN 0-9628715-1-6. 
  10. ↑ Darbinian, Reuben (1923). Mer Pataskhane H. Kachaznunii (in Armenian). Boston: Hayrenik Tparan.  Translates to "Our Answer/Response to H. Kachaznunii" (author's name also transliterated "Rouben", "Ruben", "Rooben", etc.)
  11. ↑ "Books of the Armenian Research Center". Armenian Research Center. University of Michigan. 2003-05-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07. "Kachaznuni, [Hovhannes]. H.H. Dashnaktsutiwne anelik chuni aylews [Dashnaks Have Nothing To Do Any More] (Vienna: Mkhitarean Tparan, 1923).
    We also have R. Darbinean's and S. Vratsean's responses...R. Darbinean, Mer pataskhane H. Kazaznunii and S. Vratsean, Kharkhapumner: H. Kajaznunu H.H. Dashnaktsutiwne anelik chuni aylews [girk artiw] [(Boston, MA: Hayreniki Tparan, 1924)], in Box 5 of the St. Sarkis books."     
  12. ↑ Gakavian, Armen (October 1997). "ARMENIAN DIASPORAN IDENTITY REIMAGINED, 1915-1985". PhD Thesis, Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Sydney. Retrieved 2008-09-02. "...the former Prime Minister of Armenia, Hovhannes Kachaznouni, published a book, The ARF Has Nothing More to Do, and migrated to Soviet Armenia. As the title suggests, Kachaznouni argued that the ARF and the other parties had no role to play in Armenian political life, now that Armenia was Bolshevik. The opponents of the ARF, of course, capitalised on this. In the same year, a response was written to Kachaznouni by high-ranking party member Rouben Darbinian, who argued that Kachaznouni was wrong to give up hope, because Sovietisation would be short lived, and the ARF needed to continue the struggle for freedom." 
  13. ↑ Derogy, Jacques (1990). Resistance and Revenge. Transaction. p. 167. ISBN 0-88738-338-6. "April 11[, 1923]. Letter from Shahan Natali to the Boston committee:
    I was informed too late to be able to express my view towards the item put on the agenda of the next interim conference in Vienna; the position of the Party toward the sovietization of Armenia. You are not without responsibility for this delay, which has prevented me from making the party return to its revolutionary line."     
  14. ↑ Imprinted on the cover of the booklet: "Published by the Armenian Information Service, Suite 7D, 471 Park Ave., New York 22." Written on the last page: "The Armenian Information Service publishes the Armenian Reporter..."
  15. ↑ Malkasian, Mark (1996). Gha-Ra-Bagh!. Wayne State University Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-8143-2604-6.  See footnote 1 and 3.
  16. ↑ Simone, Christine (1993-03-01). "Is Armenia in the news? Yes and no". AGBU News (Armenian General Benevolent Union). Retrieved 2008-08-07. "AGBU's New York office of the Armenian Information Service ..." 
  17. ↑ Vosbikian, Joseph (1995-12-16). "The ARF World Congress, Then and Now". Armenian Reporter. "As for the 1923 ARF convention and the 1995 26th World Congress of the ARF, both were highly secret and closed to the public; we were solely dependent on the information that has leaked out since and the recent public statements coming from their central bureau." 
  18. ↑ "Doktora: 2007-2008". ÖĞRENCİLER. İ.Ü. Atatürk İlkeleri ve İnkılap Tarihi Enstitüsü. 2007-11-23. Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
  19. ↑ Özdemir, Sadi (2007-11-02). "Ermeni isyanını Perinçek buldu İTO ABD’ye gönderiyor". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-08-07. 
  20. ↑ http://www.keghart.com/node/321
  21. ↑ Books by 'Hovhannes Katchaznouni', Kaynak Press
Political offices
Preceded by
None		 Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia
1918-1919 		Succeeded by
Alexander Khatisyan
Authority control
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