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| Armenianfedayi | |
|---|---|
 Afedayi group fighting under theARF banner. The banner readsLiberty or Death. | |
| Active | 1880s–1920s |
| Country | Ottoman Empire Russian Empire Qajar Iran |
| Allegiance | Armenians |
| Type | Militia |
| Size | 40,000 during theArmenian genocide |
| Engagements | Armenian national movement Persian Constitutional Revolution Resistance during the Armenian genocide |
| Commanders | |
| Before 1893 | Arabo |
| 1893–1899 | Aghbiur Serob |
| 1899–1904 | Andranik |
| 1904–1907 | Kevork Chavush |
Fedayi (EasternArmenian:Ֆիդայի,romanized: Fidayi;Western Armenian:Ֆէտայի,Fedayi,Turkish:Ermeni milisleri, çeteleri, fedaileri,French:Fédaïs arméniens), also known as theArmenian irregular units,Armenian militia, orArmenian Hayduks wereArmenian civilians who voluntarily left their families to form self-defense units andirregular armed-bands in reaction to the mass murder of Armenians and the pillage of Armenian villages by criminals,Turkish andKurdish gangs, Ottoman forces, andHamidian guards during the reign ofOttoman SultanAbdul Hamid II in late-19th and early-20th centuries, known as theHamidian massacres. Their ultimate goal was always to gain Armenian autonomy (forArmenakans) or independence (forDashnaks and forHunchaks) - depending on their ideology and the degree of oppression visited on Armenians.
Some of the key fedayi figures also participated in theIranian Constitutional Revolution that commenced during the same period, upon agreement of theARF leaders.
The Armenian termfedayi ultimately derives from theArabic wordfedayeen:فدائيونfidā'īyūn, literally meaning "those who sacrifice".[1][2] The termhayduk was also used interchangeably as well and derived from theHungarian wordhajduk, meaning "foot soldier".
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Armenian fedayis' main goal was to defendArmenian villagers from persecution and at the same time, disrupt the Ottoman Empire's activities in Armenian populated regions. Armenian volunteers fought during theHamidian Massacres,Sasun Resistance (1894),Zeitun Rebellion (1895–1896),Defense of Van, andKhanasor Expedition. They were the leaders and members of theArmenian national movement. These bands sabotaged telegraph lines and raided army supplies. They also committed assassinations and counter-attacks on Muslim villages. They helped Armenians defend themselves during village purges by Ottoman officials. They were supported by Armenians and quickly gained fame, support and trust by them.
Their activities in the Ottoman Empire dissipated after theSecond Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, when theCommittee of Union and Progress came into power and, for a time, granted the Empire's Armenian citizens the same rights as its Turkish and Kurdish citizens. Most fedayi groups then disbanded, their members returning to their families.
Several fedayi and ARF key figures such asAram Manukian,Hamo Ohanjanyan andStepan Stepanian agreed upon joining the ongoing Iranian Constitutional Revolution in neighboringQajar Persia.[3]
They established that the movement was one that had political, ideological and economic components and was thus aimed at establishing law and order, human rights and the interests of all working people. They also felt that it would work for the benefit and interest ofArmenian-Iranians. The final vote was 25 votes in favour and one absentia.[3]
Some fedayi groups joined the Ottoman army after the Ottoman government passed a new law to support the war effort that required all enabled adult males up to the age of 45 to either be recruited in theOttoman army or to pay special fees (which would be used in the war effort) to be excluded from service. As a result of this law, most able-bodied men were removed from their homes, leaving only the women, children, and elderly by themselves. Most of the Armenian recruits were later turned into road laborers, out of which many were executed.[when?]
The Genocide, committed during World War I by the Ottoman Empire, gave way to the return of the fedayis, who reorganised themselves once again inside the borders of the Ottoman Empire. In turn, tens of thousands of Armenians volunteered to be drafted in several different armies. TheseArmenian volunteer units were formed inside the Russian army to fight against the Ottoman Empire.[4]
The Russian Caucasus Front collapsed following theabdication of the Tsar. In 1917, theArmenian Congress of Eastern Armenians asked the Armenian soldiers and officers scattered throughout Russian occupied regions to gradually be brought together.[5] The plan was to mobilize Armenians on the Caucasian front. With that purpose in view, an Armenian Military Committee was formed with General Bagradouni as its president.[5] That year, the Armenian National Congress created theArmenian National Council, which established theFirst Republic of Armenia. These Armenian conscripts and volunteers from the Russian Army later established the core of the armed forces of theFirst Republic of Armenia. Armenian refugees from the Ottoman Empire were flooding the newly formed Armenian state. Further southeast, inVan, the fedayis helped the local Armenians resist the Turkish army until April 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate and withdraw toPersia.
To consider emergency measures, theWestern Armenian Administration sponsored a conference which adopted plans to form a 20,000-man militia under Andranik in December 1917. Civilian commissioner Dr.Hakob Zavriev promoted Andranik to Major General and he took the command of Armenia within the Ottoman Empire. They fought in numerous successful battles such as theBattle of Kara Killisse, theBattle of Bash Abaran and theBattle of Sardarapat, as fedayees merged with the Armenian army (Yerevan centered) under the GeneralTovmas Nazarbekian.
The total number ofguerrillas in these irregular bands was 40,000–50,000, according to Boghos Nubar, the president of the Armenian National Delegation in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, who wrote:
In the Caucasus, where, without mentioning the 150,000Armenians in the Imperial Russian Army, more than 40,000 of their volunteers helped to liberate part of the Armenian vilayets, and where, under the command of their leaders, Antranik and Nazerbekoff, they alone, among the peoples of the Caucasus, offered resistance to the Turkish armies, from the beginning of the Bolshevist withdrawal right up to the signing of an armistice."[6]
Boghos Nubar, as part of the Armenian Delegation, intended to expand the independent First Republic of Armenia. Thus, he might have elevated the number of Armenian fedayees who were able to fight in order to show that the Armenians are capable of defending an eventually large Ottoman-Armenian border. In reality, their numbers at that time were much lower, considering that there were no more than a few handful of fedayees in most of the confrontations between them and Kurdish irregulars or Turkish soldiers, even according to foreign accounts. Moreover, many of the fedayees were the same and reappeared in various places and battles. One should also note that many Armenian irregular fighters died defending regions ofWestern Armenia during theArmenian genocide.
