Christophor Araratov Christophor Araratov ( ; " Kristop ' or Araratyan " , ) ( 1876 – 10 December 1937 ) , also known as Khachatur Araratyan and Christophor Araratyan , was a career officer of the Russian Imperial Army . He was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Armenian army during its fight for independence during and after World War I . Araratov participated in the 1918 battles of Sardarapat and Karakilisa against Turkish invaders . For having fought to establish the independence of the First Republic of Armenia , in 1937 during the Great Purge of Joseph Stalin , Araratov was arrested and executed on charges of nationalism . Following Stalin ' s death in 1953 , the Soviet government began a period of rehabilitation , which was extended posthumously to many of the tens of thousands of Stalin ' s victims . Araratyan was rehabilitated and his awards were officially restored to him ( via his survivors ) . His achievements were again acknowledged in history books . Early years . Christophor Araratov was born in a noble family in 1876 in Tbilisi ( now the capital of Republic of Georgia ) . His father , Karapet Avetikovich Araratov , was a lieutenant colonel of the Russian Imperial Army . At the age of 10 , the young Araratov entered the Tbilisi cadet corps . He studied there for 7 years , after which he entered Mikhaylov artillery school in Petersburg . He won recognition as one of the three best students , which earned him the rank of a second lieutenant and right to choose the location of service . At the graduation ceremony , he was the head of Cavalry troops . First military experience . Araratov chose Caucasus grenadier artillery brigade to continue service , where he had the position of senior adjutant of the brigade head . Right after the outbreak of the Russian - Japanese War , he asked to be assigned to the front . His knowledge gained at the artillery school helped him gain a high reputation , and he was soon awarded his first medal for his innovations . First World War . Araratov was in post - graduate studies at Officer School at Tsarskoe Selo , when World War I began . He aced his exams ahead of schedule and was assigned to the front . He served as a lieutenant colonel of his previous brigade . He was awarded numerous medals during the war . He was in Romania when the Bolshevik revolution took place in Russia and the new government announced its leaving the war . He realized that the Ottoman Empire would likely use the situation to enter Russian Armenia and the Caucasus . On 5 December 1917 , the armistice of Erzincan was signed between the Russians and Ottomans which ended the armed conflicts between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Caucasus Campaign . After the Bolshevik seizure of power , a multinational congress of Transcaucasian representatives met to create a provisional regional executive body known as Transcaucasian Seim . While Armenians sending representatives to Transcaucasian Seim , at the same time , the Eastern Armenian leaders at the Erivan tried to established an Armenian Army Corps . With the efforts of Armenian National Council of Tiflis it was set up to fight against the Ottoman Empire in late 1917 and early 1918 . Units of this corps were the basis of the army First Republic of Armenia . Armenians had planned to keep their existence based on a political strategy in the way of being supporting the Allies and Russia and to establish their national army with Russian support . General Tovmas Nazarbekian was selected as the Commanding Officer ( Sparapet of Armenia ) . The Sparapet of Armenia Tovmas Nazarbekian appreciated the talent and skills of the colonel . Erivan assigned 1st Division with 1st Erzurum / Erzinjan regiment , 2nd Khnus Regiment , 3rd Yerevan Regiment , and 4th Erzinjan / Yerevan Regiments under General Christophor Araratyan . In 1918 he was the head of artillery brigade of Armenian army . Araratov moved to Kars , where the staff of the brigade was located . On 3 March 1918 , the Grand vizier Talat Pasha signed the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk with the Russian SFSR . It stipulated that Bolshevik Russia cede Batum , Kars , and Ardahan . Between 14 March – April 1918 , the Trabzon peace conference was held between the Ottoman Empire and the delegation of the Transcaucasian Sejm . The representatives in Tiflis acknowledged the existence of a state of war between themselves and the Ottoman Empire . With the fall of Kars , Araratov realized that the government of Transcaucasian Seym was not interested in struggle against the invader : Caucasian Turks supported Turkey to gain an alliance in founding their own independent state . On 11 May 1918 , a new peace conference opened at Batum . At this conference the Ottomans extended their demands to include Tiflis as well as Alexandropol and Echmiadzin ; they intended to build a railroad to connect Kars and Julfa with Baku . The Armenian and Georgian members of the Republic ’ s delegation began to stall . Beginning on 21 May , the Ottoman army moved ahead again . The conflict led to the Battle of Sardarapat ( 21 – 29 May ) , the Battle of Kara Killisse ( 1918 ) ( 24 – 28 May ) , and the Battle of Bash Abaran ( 23 – 29 May ) . During the Battle of Sardarapat , Araratov ' s artillery brigade fought bravely and took prisoners of a battery of Turkish soldiers . The victory at Sardarapat made Republic of Armenia independence possible . After Sardarapat , Araratov was reassigned to the front against the Georgian Army , which occupied Lori in 1918 . On 30 October , the Armistice of Mudros was signed , and the Caucasus Campaign ended . The fights stopped before the New Year of 1919 . First Republic of Armenia . In the start of 1919 , all around Armenia Azerbaijanis excited rebellions . In that unstable situation on 16 April 1919 , Prime Minister Hovhannes Katchaznouni left for Tiflis to conduct negotiations there and Alexander Khatisyan had become Acting Premier ; with Araratyan as the military minister from March 27 . The latter had replaced Hovhannes Hakhverdyan on this post and was promoted to the rank of Major General . In April 1920 he was assigned to Kars as a military governor of the region . In October 1920 , when the city yielded to Turks , he was taken prisoner by Turkey . Turkish General Kyazym Bekir Pasha used to visit him in prison and offered him a chance to teach a course of Russian artillery at the Turkish military university . Araratov refused . Soviet Armenia period . At the end of 1921 , Araratov was returned at the request of Aleksandr Myasnikyan to what was then Soviet Armenia . He took a position as head assistant of a rifle division . Later he was appointed as head of military chairs at Yerevan State University and then at National Economy Institute . On 2 September 1937 , during the Great Purge of Joseph Stalin , Araratov was arrested along with many other high - ranking military officers , who were accused of being " nationalists " and " anti - soviet activists " for their support of Armenian independence . After about three months , together with other heroes of Sardarapat : Movses Silikyan , Dmitry Mirimanov , Aghasi Varosyan , Stepan Ohanesyan , Hakob Mkrtchyan , and Harutyun Hakobyan , Araratov was taken on 10 December to Nork gorge and executed . Within Soviet territories , many more military and other suspected political enemies were executed . The officers ' awards were stripped from their names , their families were sometimes sent to labor camps in the gulag as enemies of the state , and the men ' s names were removed from history books . Rehabilitation . Following Stalin ' s death in 1953 , the Soviet Union began rehabilitation of his victims of political repression . They first offered amnesty to prisoners held for non - political offenses , then began to release political prisoners as well . The government later rehabilitated numerous people posthumously , as they did for Araratov and Silikyan : restoring their medals and their places in history .