The 7th General Convention of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party which was held in Constanta, Romania, in 1913, had a unique and great importance not only for the Hunchaks, but in the history of the Armenian people as a whole. During the Convention, members stressed their concern of the Ittihad (Young Turk) government's blatant disregard of the Armenian lives who resided in Historic Armenia. The Hunchaks feared that this disregard would only escalate as time pasted. The Hunchaks also stressed the importance of a United Independent Armenia which would be impossible under the racist and dictatorial Young Turk government's rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Thus the convention adjourned with two main objectives:

I - As stated in its original program, the party was to move from licit to illicit activities, thus becoming once again a covered organisation.

II - To plan and assassinate the leaders of the Ittihad (Young Turk) party, the same leaders that carried out the Adana massacres of 1909, and thus the same leaders who at that moment were planning the annihilation of the Armenian people.

Unfortunately, these secret objectives were passed on to the Turks by an Armenian agent for the government; consequently as soon as the delegates arrived in Constantinople, they were arrested. By the end of the year a total of one hundred and forty Hunchak leaders were arrested.

After spending two years in the horror known as Turkish jails, and lengthy mock trials, twenty prominent figures - Paramaz, Dr. Benne, Aram Ach'ekbashian, Vanig and others were sentenced to death by hanging. Few weeks after the beginning of the Armenian Genocide on June 15, 1915, all twenty men were hung in the central square of Constantinople, know as Sultan Bayazid Square.

The destiny of the Twenty Martyrs was intertwined with the destiny of their nation. They knew what was coming, sounded the alarm but were betrayed by a fellow Armenian. They believed that an independent Armenia will be born from the ashes of the old one, they were right.

Over the past decades, the Twenty Martyrs were a source of inspiration for thousands of young Armenians through out the world, but most especially to those who joined the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, fought under its banner, and in its ranks worked for the welfare of all Armenians.

Today the Armenian Republic is a living example of what the Twenty Martyrs and thousands of other Hunchakian heroes fought and died for. But the struggle must and will continue, until the immediate and future objectives of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party and the Armenian people are accomplished.

 

Mourad, called by many Medz'n Mourad, was born in the mountainous Cilician town of Hajin in 1867 as Hampartsoum Boyadjian.

His brother was the famous Hunchakian leader known as the Immortal Girayr, organised much of Armenia Minor until he was hanged by the Ottomans in 1894. Mourad, then a medical student in Constantinople, joined the Hunchakians and became one of the leaders of the 1890 Kum Kapu demonstration.

With a price on Mourad's head (2000 gold pieces), after hiding in the Ottoman capital he fled to Greece, from there he travelled to France, and to America.

In 1892, Mourad went to the Caucasus to try to get men and aid from the Russian Armenians for Sassoun, where he travelled to on foot and arrived in 1893 to be one of the leaders of the rebellion.

After another trip to the Caucasus for aid, Mourad returned to Sassoun and became the leader of the 1894 armed rebellion. Among his friends in arms were Antranig, Kevork Chavoush and Hrair Tjokhg. During 1-15 August, 1894 they fought against Zeki Pasha's Fourth Turkish battalion with no help from outside. By the end of August, Mourad with a small group of friends was surrounded and cornered in a small cave. After three days of fighting he was arrested, imprisoned, and then exiled to Tripoli in Africa.

In 1905, The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party's Fifth Congress elected the imprisoned Mourad as a member of the Party's Central Committee. This not only showed the Party's support of Mourad but also their outright belief that they will be able to get Mourad out of prison.

In 1906, the S.D. Hunchakian Party succeeded in helping him escape after 11 years of imprisonment. The news of his escape echoed all around the world and was greeted with words of joy and happiness in both Armenian and foreign papers.

After his escape, Mourad dedicated himself to working towards the unity of the Armenian revolutionary movement.
After the 1908 Ottoman constitutional revolution he and his friends returned to Constantinople, and was soon elected as a member of the Ottoman Parliament for the province of Adana, in which he defended the rights of the common people, especially provincial Armenians. Mourad, a Hunchakian who never gave up on the dream of a united and independent Armenia was labelled, like thousands of others, an undesirable by the Young Turk Government, thus he was among the first to be arrested in April 1915 during the eve of the Armenian Genocide, and sent to Caesarea, where he was severely tortured in prison and after a trial in July, hanged on 24 August 1915, with 12 fellow friends.

Medz'n Mourad will be remembered as the greatest revolutionary hero of all Armenians...

Born in Sis in 1898.

Sarkis Dkhrouni had left his homeland during the Turkish deportations of Armenians in 1915, only to return to Sis during the repatriation of Cilicia following World War I.

In Sis, Dkhrouni had embarked on a very intensive career as a teacher, newspaper editor, and as a Hunchak activist. He edited the "Davros" and "Nor Serount" newspapers and worked tirelessly to organise aid to the then besieged city of Hajin in Armenia Cilicia.

After the evacuation of Cilicia, Dkhrouni settled in Aleppo, there he edited "Souriakan Mamoul", which became the forum for the development of his political maturity. Various chapters of Hunchak youth organisations were soon established in Aleppo, Damascus, Beirut and Kessab thanks to his efforts.

An ardent orator and an excellent writer, Dkhrouni rallied an entire segment of the Armenian population in exile around Armenia, the land to which he had placed much of his hopes and aspirations.

In 1927 Dkhrouni was exiled to Arvad island off of Syria by the ruling French mandatory authorities base on false accusations (given by fellow Armenians) and intentional harassment. While in exile, his ideological opponents spread rumours of his death, and it is on this occasion that he responded with his famous line "It is Dkhrouni, and he remains Hunchakian". In 1928 he returned from exile having written his masterpiece, a collection of essays analysing his political thoughts and Armenian issues.

Soon after his return, on 17 January, 1929, he was assassinated in Beirut by fellow Armenians...

Papers all over the Diaspora reported the news of his assassination and funeral procession, including 13 local (non-Armenian) papers. Shoukri Sadi, a Lebanese reporter on the funeral procession writes:

"It would be hard for me to see another funeral procession like this, which I unfortunately became a witness to. Twenty thousand Armenians, on their shoulders carrying the coffin of a great Armenian activist. I found everyone in tiers, and their heart-broken sighs could have ripped the ground".

Dkhrouni is considered unique in his dedication to the cause for which he fought throughout his short life.

Many of the Hunchakian youth organisation chapters carry his name in honour of his martyrdom.

Dkhrouni symbolises the spirit of a dedicated youth.

He is an Armenian hero.
And a Hunchakian legend.

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Matteos Sarkissian was born in 1863, Meghri.

Matteos Sarkissian attends Meghri’s local schools, and by the age of sixteen transfers to the Kevorkian Seminary of Echmiadzin. In 1883, with the intention of teaching, he travels to the Nakhechevan region. There, he is introduced to a fellow teacher Stepan Sabah-Goulian. During his years as a teacher Matteos Sarkissian increases his intellect by constantly studying. By early 1890’s he devotes himself with the revolutionary politics of the Hunchakian Party and adopts the nickname of Paramaz.

During this time Paramaz not only continues his profession as a teacher but he also promotes the revolutionary ideas of the Hunchakian party in many of the notable Armenian villages of Iran (Ardabeel, Pahashoug, Salmasd, etc…). In addition, while in Iran Paramaz becomes the chief advisor to newly created fedayee groups, and in Salmasd he forcefully punishes those responsible for the assassination of Zolab Sargesian.

In the summer of 1897, Paramaz, along forty of his colleagues travels to Van where he is eventually arrested as a revolutionary. In August of 1898, during the trial, Paramaz proves that it is the government officials greed that instigate the people to revolt. In addition, he substantiates that during the last four years, over 175,000 Armenians have been massacred, over 80,000 families have been robbed, and over 250 villages have been burned. Despite his intrepid speeches and testimony the court sentences Paramaz to death, but being that he is a Russian citizen and through the efforts of the Russian consulate, Paramaz is handed over to the Russian Government where he remains in jail till 1900.

After his release in the early 1900, Paramaz establishes an anti-Tsarist movement in the central Caucasus, and heads a group of Armenians who urge the Catholicos Khreamian Hayreeg to resist the orders of the Tsarist government and hold on to the treasured relics of the Armenian Church.

In 1903, under the order of the Hunchakian central committee of Baku, Paramaz organizes the famous assassination attempt of Russian governor Golitsyn. Although Golitsyn does not die from his wounds, the assassination attempt is seen as a productive step in warning that no enemy of the Armenian people is out of harm's way.

From 1905 through 1906, Paramaz leads Hunchakian troops in Erevan, Echmiadzin, Zangezour and Kharabagh in the Armenian-Tatar wars. In Tatar towns he also tries to promote anti-Tsarist sentiment as well as the vision that Armenian and Tatars can and should live together peacefully.

As a administrator for the Hunchakian Party’s Caucasus branches, Paramaz visits Hunchak branches in Iran, Boulgaria, Romania, and other European countries. Through these travels he becomes acquainted with leading leftist theorist and leaders.

With the establishment of a Constitutional Ottoman Empire, Paramaz moves to the Ottoman Empire and moves to establish a anti-Ittihad movement. Through his efforts to establish an anti-Ittihad movement, he travels to Constantinople, Adapazad, Deekranagerd (where he also establishes a workers union), Hayny, Arzny-Maren, Malatia, Kharpert, Aintab, Ourfa, Van, Gareen, etc…. Through these visits he in influential in strengthening the Hunchakian ranks, giving lectures, and is active in promoting Armenian self defence.

Through a pen-name of 'Hayr Seeva', he is an integral part of the newspaper 'Arevelk' in the Ottoman Empire. His writings were also included in the organ of the executive committee of the Hunchakian party, Hunchak, and through his writing the revolutionary and political life of Armenians, and Armenian organizations are reinforce.

Paramaz participates in the 7th General Convention of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, in Constanta, Romania, 1913. At the convention Paramaz is elected in the Central Committee, as well as given the task of organizing a covert operation of assassinating the leaders of the Young Turk Ittihad government.

Regrettably the resolutions of the convention were given to the Young Turk Government by an Armenian spy, and Paramaz along with other Hunchakian leaders and members is arrested upon his arrival to Constantinople.

After spending two years in the horror known as Turkish jails that included lengthy interrogations as well as torture and a mock trial, Paramaz was sentenced to death by the court along with 20 other members.

On June 15, 1915, Paramaz along with 19 other prominent Hunchakian leaders were hung in the central square of Constantinople¹.

Before his hanging Paramaz stayed true to his principles and declared to his executioners, you can only hang our bodies, but not our philosophy.
 

1. Stepan Sabah-Goulian was fortunate to escape jail, but was also condemned to death in absentia.

 

 

Monument of Paramaz Officially Opened in Meghri’s Central Square

A monument of a great Armenian freedom fighter and representative of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, Paramaz (Matteos Sarkissian) was officially opened on Saturday, 16 June 2001 in the main square of Meghri, Armenia.

Paramaz and 19 other fellow Hunchak members were hung in the central square of Constantinople on June 15, 1915. The monument also commemorates 19 freedom fighters from Meghri who died in the Karabakh war.

The opening of the statue was attended by the city administration, the head of the Syunik Diocese of the Armenian Church, members of the Social Democrat Hunchakian party, as well as ordinary citizens of Meghri and countless Armenians from the Diaspora.

Born in Van in 1889.

In 1910 Vanig was a law student in Constantinople when he, along with two other students, established a youth organisation to educate and prepare the new Armenian generation for the ranks of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party, where they would help out fellow Armenians in need, anyway possible. Within a few months the organisation was publishing "Gaidz" and Vanig contributed to it as a member of the editorial staff and as columnist analysing ideological points pertaining to Armenians in Constantinople and Anatolia.

Vanig is credited for the "Gaidzian Generation", a generation of students, all educated on ideological and revolutionary issues, in turn this set the intellectual path of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party chapters in Constantinople until the Genocide and throughout the world after the Genocide. Throughout the 20th century "Gaidz" Youth Organisation was and is an important Armenian youth movement in the United States:- Worcester, Providence, New York, Los Angeles and Fresno in particular.
 
On July 1914, Vanig was arrested by Turkish authorities along with a large group of other Hunchaks, 140 in all, of which 119 were released and 1 escaped.

On June 15, 1915 he was hanged in Bayazid square in Constantinople along with his close party friends and colleagues. Constantinople's Armenian community was ravaged by terror of April 24 at the time of the hanging of the "Twenty Hunchaks", Armenians were in no condition to retaliate, not even to protest the hanging.