"Khanasora" Vartan Mehrpanian
| Sargis Mehrabyan | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Birth name | Sargis Mehrabyan |
| Nickname(s) | Vartan Khanassori |
| Born | Karabakh, Elisabethpol Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1943 Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |
 Dashnaktsutyun (1890–1920s) Russian Empire (1914–1917) Republic of Armenia (1918–1920)
|
| Service/branch | Russian Armenian Volunteer Corps |
| Years of service | 1890—1920s |
| Commands held | Ararat Armenian volunteer battalion |
| Battles/wars |
Armenian National Liberation Movement |
Armenian National Liberation Movement
Khanasor Expedition
Armenian–Tatar War
World War I
Sargis Mehrabyan (Armenian: Սարգիս Մեհրաբյան), also known as Commander Vartan, Vartan of Khanasor and Vartan Mehrpanian, was an Armenian fedayee military commander and member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
Sargis Mehrabyan was one of the founding members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party and a close friend of leaders Kristapor Mikayelian and Simon Zavarian. In the 1890s, he directed party activity in Iranian Azerbaijan, where he organized the transfer of people and supplies of weapons to fight against Ottoman Turkey. His was commonly known by his nom de guerre Vartan.
At the time of the Hamidian massacres in the summer of 1896, he led the defense of villages in the region of the current Catak district in Western Armenia (now Turkey) and the Van province. The following year, he was one of the leaders, along with Prince Hovsep Arghutian, who headed the Khanasor Expedition in Western Armenia, to fight against the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Kurdish Hamidiye irregulars commanded by Sharif Bey, who had a role in the Hamidian massacres with his cavalry. On 24 July 1897, Vartan led 253 men across the Turkish-Persian border and engaged the men of Sharif Bey in the valley of Khanasor at dawn. The next day, after twelve hours of fighting, the Kurdish and Ottoman cavalry captains had been defeated and all men had been killed. Sharif Bey had fled, disguised in women's clothing, escaped overlooked because Vartan ordered not to attack women and children. He lost twenty men in the battle. Afterward, Vartan received the honorary nickname Vardan Khanassori.
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