Shahan Natalie
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Shahan Natalie (Armenian: Շահան Նաթալի) (nom de guerre Nemesis) (1884-1983) was the principal organizer of Operation Nemesis on behalf of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation wherein the Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide were assassinated, and a member of the A.R.F.'s Bureau. He later became a writer on Armenian national philosophy, and notable for his essay, The Turks and Us.
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[edit] Early Life
Shahan Natalie was born Hagop der Hagopian in 1884, in the village of Husenik, in the Kharberd province (modern day Elazığ Province) of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia. He was the only son of a seven-member family, along with four sisters.
He received his primary education in the local Armenian school. At the beginning of the 1895 Hamidian massacres, his father, maternal uncle, and numerous other relatives were killed. Separate from his family during the massacre, Hagop, then 11, was taken in by a neighboring Greek family, who hid him for three days, fearing that he too would be slaughtered. He was later reuinited with the surviving members of his family.
He found his mother over his father's lifeless corpse, which they dragged together and buried under a walnut tree. He would later write about this event, adding, "The living began to bury the dead." The scene of his mother, prostrate on her husband's body, left a deep and indelible impression on the young boy.
He studied for a year at the Euphrates College in Kharberd. Along with other orphans, he was then sent to the St. James Orphanage in Constantinople. There, a wealthy Armenian rug merchant living in New York adopted him. The following year he was admitted to the Berberian Academy, where he studied until 1900.
[edit] Youth
In 1901, he returned to Kharberd, where for three years he was a teacher at the Armenian school of the St. Varvara Church. In the meantime, he studied the provincial dialect of Kharberd, earning him special honor in Patriarch Izmirlian's literary competition.
In 1904, he joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in Kharberd, and immigrated to the United States, where he worked for three years as a laborer in a shoe factory.
In 1908, after the proclamation of the Young Turk Revolution, he returned to his home in Husenik. His stay was short-lived, however, as the 1909 Adana massacre drove him into exile in America.
[edit] Education and political life
From 1910 to 1912, Shahan attended Boston University, where he studied literature, philosophy, and theater. In 1912, he decided to return home in the Ottoman Empire, but on his way there, he was sent back to the U.S. when Greek authorities would not let him through, considering him a citizen of an enemy nation.
Back in the U.S., Natalie became active within the ranks of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. He was on the editorial staff of the party's Hairenik newspaper, and was elected to the party's United States Central Committee. He became a United States citizen on March 23, 1915, assuming "John Mahy" as his official name.
[edit] Operation Nemesis
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[edit] Falling out with the A.R.F.
From September 27 to the end of October 1919, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation's 9th General Congress convened in Yerevan. Shahan Natalie participated as United States District delegate. The retribution against those who had been responsible for the genocide against the Armenians was one of the issues on the Congress's agenda. Shahan Natalie was appalled, when some of the delegates expressed their opposition to this policy. The opponents to retribution argued that the newly created Armenian Republic needed Turkey's friendship (such justifications have proliferated today also, within the new Armenian Republic). Contrary to many of the Eastern Armenian delegates' vociferous objections, the ARF decided in favor of retaliation. It is generally assumed that the task force responsible for the execution of the retribution was organized at this meeting. Shahan Natalie was the primary motivator and planner of this small group. Grigor Merjanov assited him. ARF Bureau members, specifically Simon Vratsian, Ruben Ter Minasian, and Ruben Darbinian tried to frustrate Shahan Natalie's determined efforts. Natalie , however was not to be stopped.
Under the most clandestine circumstances the work of eliminating the main perpetrators of the genocide was organized and the preliminary steps (surveillance, arms-gathering and transport, etc.) were carried out. The "black list" of executioners, consisted of approximately 200 names.The former executioners of the genocide against Armenians had moved to Berlin, Rome ,Baku, Tbilisi and other cities. For Shahan Natalie, the primary target was the Armenophobe Talaat Pasha, whom Shahan called "Number One." The mission against Talaat was entrusted to Soghomon Tehlirian.
The Beirut-based "Nayiri" weekly,( v. 12, nos. 1-6 ) published Shahan's memoirs about the Talaat 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 a political trial, aiming to draw international attention to the genocide and its perpetrators. He was partly successful. The two chapters which described Nathalie's role in the killing of Tallat are missing from the aforementioned "Nayiri" publication. They were removed by Simon Vratsian, a leader in the ARF.
Shahan Natalie planned or took part in the political execution of :
-Talaat Pasha, member of the Ittihadist triumvirate and former prime minister. Killed on 15 March 1921 in Berlin, Germany by Soghomon Tehlirian.
-Pipit Jivanshir Khan, former internal affairs minister of Azerbaijan, organizer of Armenian massacres, . Killed on the 18th of July 1921 in Constantinople, Turkey by Misak Torlakian.
-Said Halim Pasha, former primer minister. Killed on the 5th of december 1921 in Berlin, Germany by Arshavir Shiragian .The attack was organized by Grigor Merjanov.
-Behaeddin Shakir Bey, principally responsible organizer and executor of the Ittahadist "Special Committee". Killed on the 17th of April 1922, in Berlin, Germany by Aram Yerganian. (Yerganian killed Ghasik Bekov in 1919,and Sarafov and Khan Khuysk, in 1920 ; all three in Tbilisi, Georgia.)
-Jemal Azmi, Ittihadist leader , killedon the 17th of April 1922, Berlin. Executive, T.; collaborator, Aram Yerganian.
-Jemal Pasha, Ittihadist triumvirate member and defense minister. Killed on the 25th of July 1922, in Tbilisi by Stepan Dzaghigian and Bedros D. Boghosian with the support of Zareh MelikShahnazarian fron the Nagorno Karabach and others.
-The third member of the triumvirate, Enver Pasha, was killed in 1922 in Turkmenistan (Central Asia) when he was leading the Basmaji-Hrosakayin -Pan-Turanian movement. It is assumed that he was killed by an Armenian soldier in the Red Army.
Shahan Natalie's avengers executed also several Armenian spies and traitors, who, by denouncing their kinsmen to Turkish authorities, were responsible for their deaths.
The ARF Bureau was against these assassinations because the Bureau, ousted from the homeland, filled with anti-Soviet addiction, was playing Turkish-spirited politics, which this campaign of assassination hindered. And finally, the Bureau succeeded in silencing the sound of the explosive Armenian bullet. The Bureau, subsequently, when the assassination of Turks proved "profitable" to revitalize party ranks, did not hesitate to credit itself alone for the just assassinations organized by the Armenian Nemesis, Shahan Natalie.
After the Sovietization of Armenia, many of the Armenian Republic's expatriate revolutionary activists did not hesitate to collaborate with Azeri and Turk Armenophobe activists to regain governmental control. This policy was contrary to Shahan Natalie's conviction that "Over and above the Turk, the Armenian has no enemy, and Armenian revenge is just and godly." There were deep dissensions on both sides, but not yet to the point of separation.
In 1924, in Paris, the ARF's 10th General Congress was convened. The revered Western Armenian delegate, Shahan Natalie, was elected as a new Bureau member, alongside Shavarsh Misakian and the Jewish sons-in-law [their wives were Jews], Ruben Der Minasian and Aram Jamalian. Bureau member Shahan in vain strove to change the party's Turkish-spirited mindset, but failed, due to the trio's opposition.
The ultimate collision of these divergent directions became inevitable. In 1925, a group of nationalistic revolutionaries applied to the Bureau to establish relationships with Soviet governments in order to try to find ways of helping the homeland. The leadership delayed the examination and response to this issue.
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.
Shahan Natalie's cup of patience had overflowed. The party's internal struggle became evident in 1928. From 1920 to 1929, in Paris, "Azadamard" (Freedom Fighter) was published under the editorship of Haig Kntouni and Shahan Natalie. "Azadamard" was the expression of outrage of noble revolutionaries toward the anti-national sentiment of the leadership. Shahan Natalie defined the "Freedom Fighter" movement thus: "In Yerevan in 1919 during the Federation's 9th General Congress, many monuments were going to be destroyed and statues were to crumble within innocent and clean souls ... Before the eyes of the "Freedom Fighters, not only was the Revolutionary Federation being horribly transformed, it was also becoming an accomplice against Armenian Revolution. Not only had the Federation, in the person of its leadership, denied the Federation, but by the boorish expression of its traditional feudalism, it had assumed the right to ally itself with the Turk, to plot against Armenian Revolution."
To forestall the probable victory of the "Freedom Fighters" at the upcoming 11th General Congress (27 March to 2 May 1929), on the eve of the meeting, the Bureau began a "cleansing campaign." The first to be "removed"(3) from the party was Bureau member, Shahan Natalie. "Knowingly" (by his definition) having joined the ARF and unjustly separated from it, Shahan Natalie wrote about this: "With Shahan began again that which had begun with Antranig; Bureau member, Shahan, was 'ousted'" After Shahan were successively ousted Haig Kntouni, Armenian Republic army officer Bagrevandian with his group, Glejian and Tartizian with their partisans, General Smbad, Ferrahian with his group, future "Mardgots" (Bastion)-ists Mgrdich Yeretziants, Levon Mozian, Vazgen Shoushanian, Mesrob Kouyoumjian, Levon Kevonian and many others. As a protest to this "cleansing" by the Bureau, some members of the ARF French Central Committee also resigned.
"Freedom Fight" having ceased publication, the "ousted" revolutionaries of France established "Mardgots" (Bastion), a semi-weekly newspaper, under the editorship of Mesrob Kouyoumjian and Mgrdich Yeritziants. Contrary to popular belief, Shahan Natalie did not establish or leader the "Bastion"-ist movement, because at that time he had returned to America. He learned about the movement from reading the "Mardgots" newspaper and acknowledged this Reconstructionist movement. In issues of "Mardgots" are published Shahan's analytical articles, "Who Ousts Whom?", "Mine and Yours", "Curse, but Listen," and "I Am Inexperienced."
Generals Dro and Nzhdeh came to Paris for the purpose of defusing the disunion of the party, but they failed.
Gradually realizing their inability to control the expanding movement, the Bureau relocated its headquarters from Paris to Cairo.
However, the "Bastion"-ist movement was attacked from within. The collaboration of editor Mesrob Kouyoumjian with the Soviet Secret Service was revealed. General Smpad and Shahan Natalie went to Paris to forestall the break-up of the movement. Revolutionaries who had remained loyal to the "Bastion"-ists in 1934 established the "Western Armenian Liberation Alliance" in Paris and began to publish the "Amrots" (Fortress) weekly. "Alliance" members were relentlessly persecuted by Bureau killer bandits and by the Secret Service of foreign countries, which wanted to see the ARF as an anti-Soviet tool in their hands. Shahan Natalie relocated "Amrots" to Athens, where it was published from 1936 to 1937. ARF Bureau-hired hit men arrived there and with their bullets killed many loyal revolutionaries.
The situation in Europe within the environment of impending war and Bureau-ordered assassinations little by little eroded the "Amrots"-ist movement.(4)
At the eve of the Second World War, Shahan returned to America and, embittered toward Armenian political life, he took up community activism within the Armenian General Benevolent Union. From 1943 to 1953, he directed the Armenian General Benevolent Union's New England District Office Secretariat.(5)
[edit] Later life
On the eve of the Second World War, Shahan returned to America and, embittered with Armenian political life, he took up community activism in the Armenian General Benevolent Union. From 1943 to 1953, he directed the Armenian General Benevolent Union's New England District Office Secretariat.(5)
In 1958, for the first time since the Soviet annexation of Armenia, he visited his homeland and regained his voice. In Dzaghgadzor, he met schoolchildren at a campground. To them they embodied the promise of a new dawn for the Armenian people.
From the 1960's, Shahan Natalie preferred to be silent and remained within the confines of his home. He died on the morning of April 19, 1983, at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts; he was 99. He was laid to rest in the Mount Auburn Cemetery, next to his wife of 57 years, Angéle.
[edit] Published works
[edit] Short stories, verses, and plays
- Օրէնքի եւ Ընկերութեան Զոհերէն ("From the Martyrs of Law and Society"). Boston: Hairenik, 1909. 63 pages. Short stories.
- Ամպեր ("Clouds"). Boston: Hairenik, 1909. Verses
- Քաւութեան երգեր ("Songs of Expiation"). Boston: Hairenik, 1915. 31 pages. Verses
- Սերի եւ ատելութեան երգեր ("Songs of Love and Hate"). Boston: Hairenik, 1915. 165 pages. Verses
- Վրէժի աւետարան ("Gospel of Revenge"). New York: Armenia, 1918. 39 pages. Verses
- Ասլան Բեկ ("Aslan Bek"). Boston: Hairenik, 1918. 62 pages. Tragedy in three acts
- Քեզի ("To You"). Boston: 1920. 116 pages. Verses written beginning in 1904.
[edit] National-political works
- Թուրքիզմը Անգորայէն Բագու եւ Թրքական Օրիէնթասիոն ("Turkism from Angora to Baku and Turkish Orientation"). Athens: Nor Or, 1928. 172 pages.
- Թուրքերը եւ Մենք ("The Turks and Us"). Athens: Nor Or, 1928. 70 pages. Second printing, Boston, 1931. 93 pages.
- Ալեքսանդրապօլի Դաշնագրէն 1930-ի Կովկասեան Ապստամբութիւնները ("From the Treaty of Alexandrapol to the 1920 Caucasian Insurgencies"). Volumes 1 and 2. Marseilles: Arabian Publishing, 1934-35.
- Երեւանի Համաձայնագիրը ("The Yerevan Agreement"). Boston: 1941. 112 pages.
- Գիրք Մատուցման եւ Հատուցման ("Book of Dedication and Compensation"). Beirut: Onipar Publishing, 1949 (first printing). 160 pages. Beirut: Azdarar Publishing, 1954 (second printing). 134 pages. Contents:
- Այսպէս Սպաննեցինք ("How We Killed")
- Յաւելուած (Addendum), illustrated.
- Վերստին Յաւելուած -- Ալեքսանդրապօլի Դաշնագրի «Ինչպէ՞սն ու ինչո՞ւն» ("Re-Addendum -- The How and Why of the Treaty of Alexandrapol"). Boston: Baikar, 1955. 144 pages.
[edit] References
- Natalie, Shahan [1928] (2002). The Turks and Us (in English). Nagorno-Karabakh: Punik Publishing.
