Soghomon Tehlirian
Soghomon Tehlirian | |
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Birthplace | Erzinjan |
Birth date | 2 April 1897 |
Death place | San Francisco |
Death date | 1960/05/23 |
Death year | 1960 |
Resting place | Ararat Cemetery (Fresno) |
Affiliations | Armenian Revolutionary Federation |
Ethnicities | Armenian |
Dialects | Western Armenian |
Ancestral villages | Nerkin Parakich |
Spouses | Anahit Tatikian |
Soghomon Tehlirian (Armenian: Սողոմոն Թեհլերյան) (1897–1960) was a native of Erzinjan, an Armenian Evangelical (Protestant) and Armenian Genocide survivor. During the Genocide he watched his sisters raped and family butchered by Turks while on the extermination marches, and although he too was injured and believed dead, he escaped and recovered. With the organization and direction of Shahan Natalie, Tehlirian assassinated the former Turkish Grand Vizir Talat Pasha in Berlin, Germany in broad daylight and in the presence of many witnesses on March 15, 1921 as an act of vengeance for his role in orchestrating the Armenian Genocide. Tehlirian was tried and acquitted of all charges by the German court.
There are monuments of Soghomon in both at his grave site in Ararat Cemetery, Fresno, California, and in Yerevan, Armenia.
Catholicos holds requiem at Tehlirian's grave
On June 20 2005 Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II held a requiem service by the grave of Soghomon Tehlirian in Fresno. Upon finishing the service, Garegin II gave a sermon dedicated to justice and unbending will of the Armenian people and blessed the guests.