Mikael Melik-Ohandzhanyan – Hero of Sardarapat

Mikael Melik-Ohandzhanyan descended from a famous Syunik princely family. He is the brother of prominent Armenian philologist, Armenologist, and orientalist, as well as translator Karapet Melik-Ohandzhanyan.

It is known that at the moment of WWI’s outbreak, Mikael Melik-Ohandzhanyan was studying in Moscow. As a royal officer, he took part in the war. After the Bolshevik revolution, he returned to Armenia and as a platoon commander participated in the Sardarapat Battle, showing great valor on the front line.

Subsequently, Mikael Melik-Ohandzhanyan became the comrade-in-arms for Garegin Nzhdeh in Syunik. And after Sovietization of Armenia, he retired from military service.

He was arrested in 1936 and shot on the standard charge of “anti-Sovietism.” A victim of the Stalinist repressions was also his brother Karapet Melik-Ohandzhanyan, who, fortunately, years later was able to return from the Siberian exile to Armenia.

Ruben Shukhyan

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