Murad of Sebastia
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Murad of Sebastia (Armenian: Սեբաստացի Մուրատ, Sebastatsi Murad; Murad Khrimian; Murad Akopian; 1874 — August 4, 1918) was a fedayee during the Armenian national liberation movement in the Ottoman empire. He was born in the village of Kovtun, near Sivas (where he got his nickname, Sebastatsi from) to a poor rural family. During his childhood, he grazed cattle. During his teenage years, he moved to Constantinople where he worked as a loader and where he also attended Sunday school. He also joined the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and subsequently, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
In 1890, he participated in Armenian demonstrations against the second-class treatment of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. He also joined fedayee bands and participated in guerrilla activities in response to the Hamidian massacres. In 1904, he played a visible role during Sasun Resistance[1]. He then started to operated in Van. During the Armenian-Tatar massacres 1905-1907, he was nominated as the head of defense of the Zangezur region and, having collected a group of 50 horsemen, he defended the Armenian population of Kapan from massacres.[1] After the Young Turk revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman empire, Murad worked in Van and in Sivas. In particular, he participated in the organization of a network of schools, charitable and female societies, and taught at Armenian schools co-education, physical culture and theatrical art. With the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Mourat and his comrades were at Sivas. When deportations were ordered, gendarmes were sent to capture Murad. Murad defended himself with his compatriots for a year and a half. In 1916, he moved to Samsun and with a sail-boat travelled to the Russian port of Batum. He lead his volunteers at the Battle of Erzinjan. He died while fighting at the Battle of Baku on August 4, 1918.[1][2][3]
