Nubar Ozanyan

Nubar Ozanyan (Armenian: Նուպար Օզանեան,[2] born Fermun Çırak, 1956–2017) was a Turkish-born Armenian radical communist revolutionary, who served as a commander in 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.

Nubar Ozanyan
Other name(s)Fermun Çırak (birth name)
Orhan Bakırcıyan (nom de guerre)
Born1956
Yozgat, Turkey
Died(2017-08-14)August 14, 2017 (aged 61)
Raqqa, Syria
Buried
Al-Malikiyah (Derîk), Syria
Allegiance TKP/ML
Service/branch IFB
Years of service1980s–2017[1]
RankTİKKO commander of operations in Rojava
Battles/warsMaoist insurgency in Turkey
First Intifada
Lebanese Civil War
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Syrian civil war

Biography

Ozanyan's birth name was Fermun Çırak. He later adopted a great number of pseudonyms,[3][4][5][6] of which "Nubar Ozanyan" and "Orhan Bakırcıyan" were the best known.[2][7]

He was born into a poor ethnic Armenian family in Yozgat, Central Anatolia, 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,[7][1] where he was one of Yılmaz Güney's bodyguards.[8] In the late 1980s, Ozanyan joined TKP/ML's military wing, TİKKO.[1] In 1988[8] he ventured to Palestine and fought with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine against the Israel Defence Forces during the First Intifada.[9][8][10] Ozanyan received military training from local militants in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley in 1990.[7] Between 1991–92, he fought in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War against Azerbaijan.[8][1] He returned to Turkey's Tunceli Province in 1992 and thereafter participated in the local Maoist insurgency.[7] 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.[8]

In 2013, he trained TİKKO fighters in Iraqi Kurdistan.[7] 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 in the Rojava-Islamist conflict. As a member of the IFB, he trained "many Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, Arab, Palestinian, Greek, Canadian, Sardinian, Belgian and French internationalist fighters."[8] 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.[8][7] Ozanyan returned to Tunceli Province for some time in late 2016 or early 2017, but eventually resumed his participation in the IFB.[8] By 2017, he was the leading TİKKO commander for operations in Syria.[8][11]

Ozanyan took part in the Battle for Raqqa, ISIL's self-proclaimed capital, during which he was killed in combat on 14 August 2017.[8][11] He was 61.[12] A memorial was held for him by the IFB and YPG/YPJ in Raqqa,[11] and he was buried with full military honors in al-Malikiyah (Derîk) on 28 August. Thousands attended his funeral.[13] His death was lamented by the TKP/ML, the Istanbul-based Armenian Nor Zartonk movement,[14][2] [10] the THKP-C/MLSPB,[15] the PFLP,[9] the MLPD,[16] and the IRPGF.[8][7]

Personal life

Ozanyan could read, write and speak Turkish, Armenian and Russian and translated several leftist treatises.[7]

Legacy

On 24 April 2019, a group of Syrian Armenians who were affiliated with TKP/ML and the SDF announced the formation of the Martyr Nubar Ozanyan Brigade.[17][18]

References
  1. "Armenian communist killed in Syria". News.am. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  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.
  3. "Serdar Can'dan "Armenak Bakırcıyan" kitabına dair değerlendirme". ozgurgelecek18 (in Turkish). 23 August 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  4. TKP/M-L Örgütlenme Komitesi. ""PARTİMİZİN SEÇKİN ÜYESİ, TİKKO ROJAVA KOMUTANI NUBAR OZANYAN (FERMUN ÇIRAK) YOLDAŞ ÖLÜMSÜZDÜR!" (2017.08.16)". tkpml.com. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. "Ermeni Yoldaşları Nubar Ozanyan'ı andı".
  6. Kırdalyan, Kristin. "Fermun Çırak anısına!". Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  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.
  8. "TKP/ML-TİKKO Commander in Rojava falls a martyr". ANF News. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  9. "PFLP salutes the martyr Comrade Nubar Ozanyan of TKP/ML". PFLP. 17 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  10. "Armenian Guerrilla Fighter Nubar Ozanyan Killed in Rojava while Fighting ISIS". Armenian Weekly. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  11. "Memorial ceremony for Armenian revolutionary martyred in Raqqa". ANF News. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  12. "Nubar Ozanyan'ı Anıyoruz". Partizan (in Turkish). 17 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  13. "TKP/ML-TİKKO Commander Ozanyan laid to rest in Derîk". ANF News. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  14. "Ethnic Armenian Nubar Ozanyan killed while fighting against IS in Syria". Armenpress. 17 August 2017.
  15. "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.
  16. "Nubar Ozanyan im Kampf gegen IS gefallen [Nubar Ozanyan was killed in battle against IS]". Rote Fahne (in German). 17 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  17. "Armenians form brigade in Northern and Eastern Syria". ANF News. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  18. "Nubar Ozanyan Armenian Brigade declared". ANF News. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
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