Drastamat Kanayan
| Drastamat Kanayan Դրաստամատ Կանայեան | |
 Drastamat Kanayan with his officers in WWII | |
Defense Minister of Armenia
| |
| In office 24 November 1920 – 2 December 1920 | |
| Preceded by | Ruben Ter-Minasian |
|---|---|
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
Civil Commissioner of Van
| |
| In office December 1917 – 7 April 1918 | |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Born | 31 May 1884 Igdyr (Iğdır), Russian Empire |
| Died | 8 March 1956 (aged 71) Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Political party | Armenian Revolutionary Federation |
| Military service | |
| Nickname(s) | General Dro |
| Allegiance | Dashnaktsutyun Russian Empire (1914–1917).png){kind=small} Republic of Armenia (1918–1920)
|
| Years of service | 1914–1920 1941–1945 |
| Commands | 2nd Battalion Volunteer Corps Armed Forces of Yerevan 812th Armenian Battalion |
| Battles/wars | Armenian National Liberation Movement World War I Georgian–Armenian War Armenian–Azerbaijani war Turkish–Armenian War World War II |
Drastamat "Dro" Kanayan (31 May 1884 – 8 March 1956) was an Armenian military commander and politician, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He served as Defense Minister of Armenia in 1920, during the country's brief independence. During World War II, he led the Armenian Legion. Drastamat Kanayan, along with his famous comrade in arms Garegin Nzhdeh, is considered to be a great Armenian hero by Armenians worldwide.
Contents
Life
- Drastamat Kanayan was born in, Surmalu (present-day Iğdır), Surmalu uezd, Erivan Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Turkey) in 1884. He was the son of Martiros Kanayan, the head of the Kanayan, or "Gago", family clan in Igdir and Horom Kanayan, Drastamat's mother. At an early age, Martiros Kanayan enrolled his son to the parish school of Igdir. Drastamat would skip school to hang out near the military barracks of Igdir because of his interest in the military exercises held there. Noticing that he had no interest in books and learning, Martiros Kanayan pulled him out of the village school and enrolled him to the Yerevan Gymnasium school. Drastamat was no better in the Yerevan Gymanisium school as the grades he achieved were barely enough for a promotion. Like all government schools in the provinces of Russia, there was a policy of Russification that limited education in the Armenian language to religion only. Inspired by stories of General Andranik's triumphs in the Ottoman Empire and the spread of nationalism by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Drastamat joined a secret youth movement in his school that opposed the Czar's government and promoted Armenian nationalism. On June 12, 1903, the tsarist authorities passed an edict to bring all Armenian Church property under imperial control. This was faced by strong Armenian opposition because it perceived the tsarist edict as a threat to the Armenian national existence. As a result, the Armenian leadership decided to actively defend Armenian churches by dispatching militiamen who acted as guards and holding mass demonstrations. This prompted Drastamat Kanayan to join the ranks of the Dashnaktsutiun in order to defend the churches from being confiscated through public demonstrations and guard duty.
- He served as detachment commander in the Russian Caucasus Army during World War I. He was one of the commanders of the Armenian volunteer units and decorated by the Tsar. In November 1914, he had the second battalion of the Armenian volunteers. At the Bergmann Offensive, the second battalion of the Armenian volunteers engaged in battle for the first time, near Bayazid. In the course of a bloody combat which lasted twenty-four hours, Dro, commander of the battalion, was seriously wounded. From that day to March of the following year, he remained in critical condition, but his battilion led into eleven battles in the neighborhood of Alashkert, Toutakh, and Malashkert, until Dro recovered and returned to resume the command. Kanayan had already become a popular military leader after the victories over the Ottoman Empire at the Caucasus Campaign. Between March 1918 and April 1918 he was appointed by the Armenian National Council military commissar to the Administration for Western Armenia of the Ararat region. He was the commander of Battle of Bash Abaran. During the Armenian Genocide, Kanayan fought off Turkish aggression against Armenian civilians.
- "In history it happened to the Armenians in Turkey and Eastern Anatolia 2.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turks in the worst possible way imaginable. It is sickening to think that the human race is capable of such actions, but there is no denying the fact that the genocide of 1 million Armenians happened. The Armenian General Dro, was the hero of this Turkish genocide of Armenians, 1914-1920."[1]
- In 1918-1920, Kanayan became the Defence Minister of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Armenia and commanded Armenian troops in various successful wars. The last battles against the Ottoman Empire at the Caucasus Campaign essentially saved the Armenian Republic from total destruction. As a Defence Minister before the end of 1918, he took responsibility at the Armenian-Azeri war 1918 and Georgian-Armenian War 1918. Later in 1920, Turkish-Armenian War. In 1920, after the incorporation of the Republic of Armenia into the Soviet Union, Drastamat Kanayan immigrated to Iran and later to Germany. In 1920, Drastamat Kanayan advanced to the vicinity of Shushi. On the night from March 21-March 22, 1920 when the Azeris were celebrating Novruz Bayram, the Armenians of Karabakh began to revolt and organized a surprise attack. During these clashes thousands of people from both the Armenian and Azeri sides were killed, with more than 7,000 houses burned and Shusha virtually cleansed of its Armenian population. On April, 1920, the bolshevik leadership of the Red Army informed from the Drastamat Kanayan to leave Karabagh. Karabagh-Zangezur was on the break of armed confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Drastamat Kanayan knew that if he did not compy with this demand the Red Army and the armed forces of Azerbaijan would have to act jointly. Dro had to withdraw because of the Sovietization of Azerbaijan and the assurances given by Sergo Ordzhonikidze’s messengers regarding a just solution to the Karabagh conflict. In this situation on May 26 the tenth congress of Armenian National Council of Karabagh, which took place in Taghavard village, proclaimed the change of position. The "Armenian National Council of Karabagh" was replaced with "Revolutionary Committee of Nagorno Karabagh". It was headed by S. Hambartsumian. On the same day Drastamat Kanayan along with his units was forced to leave Karabagh.[2]
World War II
During World War II, Dro was one of several members of the ARF who, without approval from the party leadership, entered negotiations with Germany with the hope of freeing Armenia of Soviet terror in the event of Germany's victory over the Soviet Union. The Armenian Legion was formed from Armenian POWs in the German POW camps who volunteered to fight for Germany. The Legion was placed under Dro's command. The Legion was trained by Wehrmacht officers and participated in the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus.
According to Joris Versteeg, the total number of Armenians serving in the German armed forces during the war was 18,000: 11,000 were placed in field battalions, while 7,000 were placed in logistic and non-combat units. Ailsby puts the number at 11,600. With the end of World War II, Drastamat Kanayan was taken prisoner by American forces in Heidelberg (in present-day Baden-Württemberg), but soon released. After World War II, Kanayan emigrated to the United States and continued his political activities. In 1947, at the World Congress of the ARF, he was again elected a member of the party.
Death
When traveling to the U.S. for medical treatment, Kanayan died in Boston on 8 March 1956. With much pomp and ceremony, Kanayan's remains were taken to Armenia for final burial in Aparan, on 28 May 2000, within the commemoration of the 82nd anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Armenia.
Awards and decorations (excerpt)
- Imperial Russian Cross of St. George, IV Class[3]
External links
References
- ↑ Arto Derounian (as 'John Roy Carlson'), Armenian Affairs magazine Winter issue, 1949–50, page 19, footnote. (Derounian's first name was "Avedis," and "Arthur" is the name he usually used; the author's "Under Cover" was a best seller in 1944.)
- ↑ Drastamat Kanayan, armeniapedia.org
- ↑ Kanayan, Drastamat "Dro"
