Ruben Ter-Minasian

Ruben Ter Minassian
Defense Minister of Armenia
In office 5 May 1920 – 24 November 1920
Preceded by	Christophor Araratov
Succeeded by	Drastamat Kanayan
Interior Minister of Armenia
In office 5 May 1920 – 24 November 1920
Personal details
Born	Minas Ter Minassian 1882 Akhalkalaki, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	November 1951 Paris, France
Resting place	Père Lachaise Cemetery
Nationality	Armenian
Political party	Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Ruben Ter Minassian (Armenian: Ռուբէն Տէր Մինասեան; 1882–1951) was an Armenian politician, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and had an important role in the Armenian national liberation movement and later in the First Republic of Armenia.

Early life

He was born Minas Ter Minassian in 1882 in Akhalkalaki to Armenian parents. He pursued higher education at Gevorgian seminary, Echmiadzin and Lazarian Institute, Moscow. After returning to the Caucasus in 1903. Ter Minasian's family, like many of the Armenians in the region, immigrated from the Erzurum Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire after the area became part of Russia in 1829.

Ruben Ter Minasian joined the Armenian Liberation Movement and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) in 1902. From 1902-1903, he worked in Batumi and then moved to Kars in early 1904. Then he went to Yerevan where he got acquainted with Nikol Duman. Together with him in 1904 he went to Persia where he established contacts with a number of prominent revolutionaries. On June 26, 1904, Nikol Duman's group (also Sarpaz Khecho, Hakob Zavriev, Russian soldiers from Javakhk, Suren and Grish) were trying to cross Sasun. But the band fell into the trap of the Turkish-Persian border at the Razi site and was confronted with Kurdish militants and forcing a return to Salmast. Then, along with Vardan Shahbaz (Minas Tonikyan), Ruben crosses the St. Tadevos monastery in Van in 1905.

From 1905-1906 Ruben is organizing work with Vana Ishkhan (Nikoghayos Poghosyan) in the Armenian village of Rshtunik (Lernapar) region. In 1906 Ruben embarked on a journey to Sasun. 1906-1907 he collaborated with the mayor of Taron, Gevorg Chavush (Gevorg Adamyan-Ghazaryan), Spaghants Keri Makari and other local residents, trying to reconcile them. During that time, he participated in a series of fierce battles. In May of 1907, he was with Gevorg's group in the village of Moush Soulukh, when the village was surrounded by Turkish troops commander Kyosha Binbashi. After the Battle of Soulukh and Gevorg Chavush's death, he became Taron's Chief of Staff. After the battles of Souluk, he was involved in the salvation of Georg Chavush and his family sending them to Van, with Aram Manoukian.

From 1907-1908 he repeatedly negotiates with Kurdish militants. Guided by the decisions of the Fourth General Assembly of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), the fedayis left Taron for the Caucasus. At the end of 1908, Ruben passed through Sassoun to Khnus, then to Van, and from there to Kars. After some time in Kars, Ruben went to Istanbul and goes to Geneva, where he teaches at Geneva University.

In 1913 Ruben returns to Taron. He is the director of Armenian schools in Mush. In 1915, he became one of the leaders of Sasun's self-defence. After 7 months of self-defense, he instructed that anyone who can, be saved. After a series of difficulties with a group of comrades in 1916, he was able to join the Russian troops in Khnus. He then joins Sebouh and Sebastatsi Murad's "One Armenian, One Gold" initiative aimed at saving Western-Armenian orphans from the Kurds and helping western Armenian refugees.

In1917 Ruben goes to Tiflis. Actively participates in the Dashnaktsutyun's "Risks Policy", with the head of the Baku Communist Party, Stepan Shahumyan, who arrived in Tbilisi for a short while, and with other local Bolshevik leaders. 1918 After the declaration of independence of Armenia on May 28 and the ultimatum-demand of Yerevan dictator Aram Manukyan, in 1918, In June, he came to Yerevan with other members of the Armenian Church. In May-November 1920 he assumed the post of Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Defense in the Bureau of the Government led by Hamo Ohanjanyan. Active participation in 1919-1920 the Turkish-Tatar rapprochement and the 1920s.

After Armenia's sovereignty passed Zangezur. Ruben has stayed in Syunik for some time. Soon he moved to Iran with Garegin Nzhdeh's army and then moved to Paris as a member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun to pursue political activities. In the years that followed, he traveled to the Middle East and Egypt, disseminating the ideology of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun. Having decided to go on vacation in 1948, he moved to Paris with his family. Approved in France, he wrote and published his great memoirs on the Homeland magazine of Boston, which was released after 7 deaths in separate volumes titled "Remembrance of the Armenian Revolutionary Guard". He died on November 27, 1951, at the age of 68. His remains were buried at Pierre Lassez Cemetery in Paris on November 30, 1951. Throughout his life he had anti-Soviet orientation and was considered one of the enemies of the USSR.

Ruben was a leader of the Armenian fighting units in Sasun, established relations and negotiated with numerous Kurdish tribal chieftains. Ter Minasian was destined to become a prominent figure in the Armenian National Movement. He was active as a fighter until the proclamation of the Ottoman constitution in 1908 and later moved to Geneva until 1913.

World War I

He returned to Ottoman Empire in 1914 to be general director of all Armenian schools in the region of Moush. He prepared Armenians for self-defense after the Ottoman Empire entered the first world war. In 1915 he led the defense of the Armenians of Sasun against the Third Army. He was a member of the Armenian National Council in 1917. An adviser to the Transcaucasian Sejm delegation in the Trebizond negotiations with the Ottoman Empire in March 1918.

First Republic of Armenia

Ter Minasian played a key role in the formation of the First Republic of Armenia along with Aram Manukian, Simon Vratsian, Hamo Ohanjanyan and others. Later he was a member in the Armenian Parliament serving as Defense Minister of Armenia and political activist. He was one of the individuals served as Ministers of Interior in the period May 1920 – September 1920.

After the Sovietization of the Armenian republic, Ter Minasian moved to Paris, France and continued his intellectual and political activities as a member of the ARF Bureau. He later lived in Palestine and Egypt. In 1948 he finally returned to Paris, where he died in November 1951. His body was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery on November 30, 1951 under number 13874.

Publications

Ter Minassian wrote his memoirs in seven volumes, entitled "Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary" [Հայ յեղափոխականի մը յիշատակները]. He is author of several other books, including "Armenia in the Inter-Continental Roads" (Հայաստանը միջցամաքային ուղիներու վրայ).

References

• Walker, Christorpher J. (1980). Armenia: The Survivial of a Nation. Beckenham, Kent: Croom Helm Ltd. p. 419-20.