16 Facts About Aghasi Khanjian

Aghasi Ghevondi Khanjian was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia from May 1930 to July 1936.

Aghasi Khanjian enrolled at the Gevorgian Seminary, but gradually became attracted by revolutionary Marxist politics.

Aghasi Khanjian later served as the secretary of the Armenian Bolshevik underground committee.

Aghasi Khanjian was arrested by the Armenian authorities in August 1919.

In September 1919, Aghasi Khanjian was elected in absentia to the Transcaucasian regional committee of Komsomol.

Aghasi Khanjian was released from prison by January 1920, but was arrested again in August 1920 and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.

Aghasi Khanjian was released after the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia in December 1920 and was elected secretary of the Yerevan committee of the Armenian Communist Party, a position he held until February 1921.

Aghasi Khanjian enrolled in Sverdlov Communist University in Moscow in 1921.

Aghasi Khanjian was opposed by the old Armenian Bolsheviks who had ruled Armenia since the early 20s, but he was gradually able to sideline them.

Aghasi Khanjian took over the leadership of the Armenian party at a time when the peasants were being forced to give up their land and were being driven onto collective farms, on instructions in Moscow.

Aghasi Khanjian proved to be a charismatic Soviet politician and was very popular among the Armenian populace.

Two years later, in following with the shift in Stalinist policy toward condemning local nationalism, Aghasi Khanjian fiercely criticized Armenian nationalism and alleged that it was still widespread among Armenian intellectuals.

In October 1931, Aghasi Khanjian gave a speech condemning Calouste Gulbenkian, the wealthy British-Armenian businessman and president of the Armenian General Benevolent Union, which contributed to Gulbenkian's resignation from the post in 1932.

Aghasi Khanjian had poor relations with Beria and had openly opposed Stalin's decision to promote Beria to the post of second secretary of the Transcaucasian party regional committee in 1931.

Aghasi Khanjian was targeted by Beria as a leader with his own power base and an obstacle to Beria's consolidation of power over the Transcaucasian republics.

Aghasi Khanjian was officially rehabilitated by Soviet authorities in 1956, two years after Mikoyan's speech and three years after the death of Stalin and the arrest and execution of Beria.