Upon receiving an order from Istanbul to destroy Pazardzhik, telegraph operator Savadzhan decided to alter the text, thereby saving an entire city.
The Bulgarian edition “168 Hours” revived the story of the bravery of Ovanes Savadzhan, who saved the Bulgarian city of Pazardzhik from destruction. His great-grandson, Matey Iliev, compiled the information about his life into a separate book.
Ovanes was born in 1844 in the multinational Odrin (Adrianople), which is located in Turkey. Thousands of Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, and Turks lived here (the city is now called Edirne, and no one but Turks remain). Living among Bulgarians, Ovanes spoke Bulgarian freely as a child. American missionaries noticed the boy’s abilities, who brought him to their school in Constantinople. Ovanes learned seven languages. He then went to work in Bulgaria, as a telegraph operator for the railway.
During the war, the headquarters of the Turkish commander Suleyman Pasha was located in Pazardzhik. When the Russian army began to press the Turks, he asked for permission from the command to burn down the city and slaughter the inhabitants. But the response from Istanbul was delayed. He then retreated to Plovdiv, leaving a blocking squad in his place. Its commander, Fuad Pasha, received a response from the Sultan: “Burn the city, exterminate the residents, retreat to Plovdiv”.
But the unimaginable happened: Savadzhan, who received the telegram, altered its text. To each deadly command, he appended the word “not” using dots and dashes. It is easy to imagine what would have happened to him if the Turkish military checked the message. Somehow, miraculously, this did not happen.
Ovanes was given confidence by his knowledge of the situation: Bulgarian partisans informed him of all movements of the Russian army. Therefore, he knew that any day now the Russians would approach the city.
“Do not destroy the city, do not kill the population, and retreat to Plovdiv,” upon receiving such an “order”, Fuad Pasha carried it out – to the great surprise and relief of the townsfolk.
In Pazardzhik, Ovanes Savadzhan became a popular favorite. But he did not want to be elected to the city administration and continued to work on the railway until his retirement. He died in 1906.
The Russian soldiers were surprised beyond belief when they saw that the city was intact. When they reported what had happened to General Gurko, he personally handed Savadzhan three orders of Saint Alexander Nevsky – of the first, second, and third degrees.
Translated by Vigen Avetisyan
