- Yeprem Khan
Yeprem Khan Davidian (Armenian: Եփրեմ Խան, Եփրեմ Դավթյան, PerB|یپرمخان داویدیان), also "Yefrem Khan", (1868-1912) was an Armenian revolutionary leader and national hero of
Persia (Iran ). He was born to an Armenian family in the village of Barsum (Armenian: Բարսում), located in Elisabethpol (Ganja) Governorate of theRussian Empire [http://www.iranica.com/articles/v8f5/v8f528.html Aram Arkun. "Eprem Khan", Encyclopedia Iranica, Online Edition] ] . (located in present-dayAzerbaijan )As a youth, Yeprem participated in Armenian nationalist groups and partisan activities against the
Ottoman Empire . In September 1890, Yeprem was arrested by theRussian Cossacks and exiled to Siberia by 1892, from where he managed to escape toTabriz in 1896 . While inTabriz , he began working for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF Dashnaktsutiun), whose activity in Persia was primarily directed against theOttoman Empire [http://www.iranica.com/articles/v7f1/v7f172.html Aram Arkun. "Dashnak (Armenian Revolutionary Federation)", Encyclopedia Iranica, Online Edition] ] , and established its local branches inTabriz andRasht .Yeprem was highly instrumental in the
Iranian Constitutional Revolution , and, by 1907, convinced ARF to formally participate in it. After the Persian national parliament was shelled by the Russian ColonelV. Liakhov , Yeprem Khan joined up withSattar Khan and other revolutionary leaders in theConstitutional Revolution of Iran againstMohammad Ali Shah Qajar .In October 1908, during Tabriz resistance, Yeprem Khan formed a secret Sattar Committee (in honor of
Sattar Khan Houri Berberian. "Armenians and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1905-1911", Westview Press, 2001, ISBN 0813338174, p. 132] ) inRasht , and established contacts with Social Democrats, Social Revolutionaries, and Armenian Dashnaks in the Caucasus [Yeprem Khan. "Memoirs", "Ittila'at-i Mahaneh", 2 (July 1948), p. 19-21] . Reinforced by 35 Georgians and twenty Armenians fromBaku , Yeprem capturedRasht and then implanted his red flag on the town hall ofEnzeli . Further reinforced by Mohammad Vali Sepahdar, the main landed magnate of the Caspian provinces and former Qajar commander [Elton L. Daniel. "The History of Iran", Greenwood Press, 2000, ISBN 0313307318, p. 312] , Yeprem Khan marched his forces of Caucasian guerillas and Mazandarani peasants towardsTehran Ervand Abrahamian. "Iran between two revolutions", Princeton University Press, 1982, ISBN 0691101345, p. 99] , which he entered in July 1909.In November 1909, the Second National Assembly (Parliament) of
Iran , appointed Yeprem Khan as the police chief ofTehran . He further split from revolutionaries, when in 1910,Sattar Khan , a hero of the civil war, refused to obey the government order to disarm. After a brief but violent confrontation at Atabek Park inTehran , Yeprem Khan, using Shah's army and police forces, disarmedSattar Khan . [Ervand Abrahamian. "Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic", I.B. Tauris, 1993, ISBN 1850437793, p. 93] .Yeprem Khan died on
May 19 1912 .References
ee also
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Armenian-Iranians External links
* [http://www.iranchamber.com/people/armenians_in_iran2.php Armenians in Iran]
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