Nubar Ozanyan
Other name(s)	Fermun Cırak (birth name) Orhan Bakırcıyan ( nom de guerre )
Born	1956 Yozgat , Turkey
Died	( 2017-08-14 ) August 14, 2017 (aged 61) Raqqa , Syria
Buried	Al-Malikiyah (Derik), Syria
Allegiance	TKP/ML
Service/ branch	IFB T?KKO
Years of service	1980s?2017 [1]
Rank	T?KKO commander of operations in Rojava
Battles/wars	Maoist insurgency in Turkey First Intifada Lebanese Civil War First Nagorno-Karabakh War Kurdish?Turkish conflict Syrian civil war

Nubar Ozanyan ( Armenian : ?????? ??????? , ^[2] born Fermun Cırak , 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 .

Biography [ edit ]

Ozanyan's birth name was Fermun Cırak. 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'etat , Ozanyan went into exile in France , ^{[7] [1]} where he was one of Yılmaz Guney 's bodyguards. ^[8] In the late 1980s, Ozanyan joined TKP/ML's military wing, T?KKO. ^[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 T?KKO 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 T?KKO 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 (Derik) 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 [ edit ]

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

Legacy [ edit ]

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 [ edit ]