Vahan Papazian

Vahan Papazian

Vahan Papazian (Armenian: Վահան Փափազյան; 1876-1973),^[1] also known by his pseudonym Goms (Կոմս) was an Armenian political activist and a community leader in Van, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

He was born in Tabriz to parents from Van. Papazian became a leading Armenian figure in the Van region in 1903 and in 1908 was elected to the Ottoman parliament from the Van Vilayet.^[2] During the Armenian Genocide, he managed to escape to the Caucasus and died in Beirut.^[3]

From 1942 to 1945, he was a member of the Armenian National Council, established in Berlin with the support of Alfred Rosenberg.^[4]

Papazian was fielded by the ARF candidate for the Armenian Orthodox seat in the Metn constituency in the 1951 Lebanese general election. He was included in the pro-government Constitutional List. He obtained 10,186 votes (out of 22,904 votes cast in the constituency), and was defeated by Dikran Tosbath.^[5]

References

1. Mahari, Gurgen (2007). Burning Orchards. Cambridge, England: Black Apollo Press. p. 524. ISBN 9781900355575.
2. Schaller, Dominik J. (2009). Late Ottoman Genocides: the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies. London: Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 0415480124.
3. Kévorkian, Raymond H. (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 827. ISBN 9781848855618.
4. Christopher J. Walker, Armenia. The Survival of a Nation, London-New York: Routledge, 1990, p. 357.
5. Messerlian, Zaven. Armenian Participation in the Lebanese Legislative Elections 1934-2009. Beirut: Haigazian University Press, 2014. pp. 114-117