Nubar Ozanyan

Nubar Ozanyan
Other name(s) Orhan Bakırcıyan (nom de guerre)
Born 1956
Yozgat, Turkey
Died (2017-08-14)August 14, 2017 (aged 61)
Raqqa, Syria
Allegiance TKP/ML
Service/branch

IFB

Years of service 1980s–2017[1]
Rank TİKKO commander of operations in Rojava[2]
Battles/wars Maoist insurgency in Turkey
First Intifada
Lebanese Civil War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Syrian Civil War

Nubar Ozanyan (Armenian: Նուպար Օզանեան,[3] 1956–2017), also known by his nom de guerre Orhan Bakırcıyan, was a Turkish-born Armenian radical communist revolutionary, who served as commander for the militant Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (TKP/ML). Fighting in several conflicts for the group, he eventually died in combat against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the Battle of Raqqa.

Biography

Ozanyan was born into a poor ethnic Armenian family in Yozgat, Turkey in 1956, with his mother dying when he was still young. After receiving primary education, he was introduced to radical leftist ideology and joined the TKP/ML. Following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Ozanyan went into exile in France,[4][1] where he reportedly was one of Yılmaz Güney's defenders.[2] In the late 1980s, Ozanyan joined TKP/ML's military wing, TİKKO.[1] In 1988[2] he ventured to Palestine and fought with the PFLP against Israel during the First Intifada.[5][2][6] Ozanyan also received military training by local militants in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in 1990.[4] Between 1991-92, he reportedly fought in the Nagorno-Karabakh War against Azerbaijan.[2][1] He returned to Turkey's Tunceli Province in 1992 and thereafter participated in the local Maoist insurgency.[4] At this time, Ozanyan began to rise in the ranks of the TKP/ML, and became an important organizer, ideologist, recruiter, trainer and frontline commander for the party.[2]

In 2013, he trained fighters of TİKKO in Iraqi Kurdistan.[4] In July 2015, he became one of the commanders of the newly founded International Freedom Battalion (IFB) in Syria, whose aim was to aid the YPG/YPJ against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. As member of the IFB, he reportedly trained "many Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, Arab, Palestinian, Greek, Canadian, Sardinian, Belgian and French internationalist fighters."[2] Meanwhile, he attempted to keep the TKP/ML intact and active in Turkey, where the party faced increasing problems as the Turkish Armed Forces intensified their counter-insurgency campaign after the start of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict's third phase.[2][4] Because of that, Ozanyan returned to Tunceli Province for some time in late 2016 or early 2017, but eventually resumed his participation in the IFB. He joined the battle for Raqqa, ISIL's self-proclaimed capital, during which he was killed in combat on 14 August 2017.[2] He was 61 when he died.[7]

His death was lamented by the TKP/ML, the Istanbul-based Armenian Nor Zartonk movement,[8][3] the IRPGF,[2][4][6] the THKP-C/MLSPB,[9] the MLPD,[10] and the PFLP.[5]

Personal life

Ozanyan could read, write and speak Turkish, Armenian and Russian and translated several leftist treatises.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Armenian communist killed in Syria". News.am. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "TKP/ML-TİKKO Commander in Rojava falls a martyr". ANF News. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  3. 1 2 "ԹԻՔՔՈ-ի հայ անդամը զոհուած է Տահէշի դէմ մղուող մարտերուն [Armenian member of TİKKO killed in fight against ISIS]". Arevelk (in Armenian). Aleppo, Syria. 17 August 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "TKP/ML Örgütlenme Komitesi'nden Nubar Ozanyan'a ilişkin açıklama [Explanation of Nubar Ozanyan from the TKP / ML Organizing Committee]". Partizan (in Turkish). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  5. 1 2 "PFLP salutes the martyr Comrade Nubar Ozanyan of TKP/ML". PFLP. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Armenian Guerrilla Fighter Nubar Ozanyan Killed in Rojava while Fighting ISIS". Armenian Weekly. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Nubar Ozanyan'ı Anıyoruz". Partizan (in Turkish). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  8. ↑ "Ethnic Armenian Nubar Ozanyan killed while fighting against IS in Syria". Armenpress. 17 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "THKP-C /MLSPB: O bizlerin devrimci yaşamının idolüdür [THKP-C / MLSPB: He is the idol of our revolutionary life]". Partizan (in Turkish). 18 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  10. ↑ "Nubar Ozanyan im Kampf gegen IS gefallen [Nubar Ozanyan was killed in battle against IS]". Rote Fahne (in German). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
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