The 20 Hunchakian gallows

The 20 Hunchakian gallows, also known as Ksan Gakhaghan, The 20 Martyrs or The 20s,"Tchahakir" Armenian weekly, # 1523, June 17, 2004, Cairo, p.1 is the common name for the Hunchakian activists who were hanged in the Sultan Bayazid square of Constantinople on June 15, 1915.

History

The 7th General Convention of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party which was held in Constanţa, Romania, in 1913, had a unique and great importance not only for the Hunchaks, but in the history of the Armenians as a whole. During the Convention, members stressed their concern of the Young Turk government's anti-Armenianism. The Hunchaks feared that this disregard would escalate as time passed, which ultimately did. 

 "Cultural Cleansing: Who Remembers The Armenians," in Robert Bevan. The Destruction of Memory, Reaction Books, London. 2006, pages 25-60



The Hunchaks also stressed the importance of a United Independent Armenia which would be impossible under the racist and autocratic Islamist Young Turk regime. 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 covert organization.

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. http://www.hunchak.org.au/aboutus/martyrs_twenty_gallows.html  The Twenty Hunchakian Gallows.

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 terrible conditions in Turkish prisons, and undergoing lengthy mock trials, twenty prominent figures were sentenced to death by hanging. A few weeks after the beginning of the Armenian genocide on June 15, 1915, all twenty men were hanged in the central square of Constantinople, known as Sultan Bayazid Square. Paramaz's last words before his hanging were:"Tchahakir" Armenian weekly, # 1594, June 21, 2007, Cairo, p.3

Since their execution, the Twenty Martyrs have been a source of inspiration for thousands of young Armenians worldwide. In 2001, the monument of Paramaz and his 19 Hunchakian comrades was opened in Meghri, Armenia.

Gallery

List of hanged Hunchakians

 Paramaz
 Smpat Keljian
 Karnig Boyajian
 Hrand Yegavian
 Mourad Zakarian
 Yervant Topuzian
 Minas Keshishian
 Hagop Basmajian
 Mgrdich Yeretsian
 Boghos Boghosian
 Karekin Boghosian
 Yerevia Manoukian
 Tovmas Tovmasian
 Roupen Garabedian
 Apraham Mouradian
 Hovhannes Yeghiazarian
 Armenag Hampartsoumian
 Bedros Torosian (Dr. Benne)
 Aram Achekbashian (Krikor Garabedian)
 Kegham Vanig, one of the editors of "Gaidz" youth journal

Two other prominent Hunchakian activists, Stepan Sabah-Goulian and Varaztahd, were condemned to death in absentia.

Related pages

 Slánský trial
 Doctors' plot
 Adana massacre
 Armenian genocide
 Hamidian massacres

References

Category:1915 deaths
Category:Executed people
Category:Armenian people
Category:Armenian genocide