MURAD OF SEPASTIA
By Mikayel Varandian
Murad of Sepastia [né Murad Hakobian-Khrimian] (1874-1918), Armenian national liberation movement leader, revolutionary, freedom fighter. He joined the ranks of the Hunchakian Social Democratic Party, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and participated in numerous resistance and self-defense operations in Sasun as early as 1903 followed by the Armeno-Tatar clashes in the Caucasus in 1905. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, he returned to Taron and then Sepastia where he remained until 1915 engaging in several military, organizational and logistical missions. Upon his return to Erzincan in 1916, he founded with General Sepuh the "One Gold, One Survivor" campaign to save the orphans of the Armenian Genocide and organize the evacuation of the Armenians of the region. He was killed during the epic battles of Baku in 1918.
Armenian Cultural Foundation (2006)