1. Mkrtich Beshiktashlian was an Ottoman Armenian poet, playwright and educator from Constantinople.
11 Facts About Mkrtich Beshiktashlian
1. 2.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian was born on 18 August 1828 in the Ortakoy neighborhood of Constantinople.
3.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian received his education at institutions run by the Mekhitarist Armenian Catholic order, first in Constantinople, then at the Muradian Gymnasium in Padua, Italy.
4.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian returned to Constantinople in 1846, and the next year he founded the "All-national Society" cultural organization, which contributed to the contemporary religious, social and literary debates of Constantinople Armenians.
5.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian is considered one of the founders of modern Armenian theater.
6.
Besides his cultural and literary activities, Mkrtich Beshiktashlian worked as a teacher of Armenian and French at various Armenian schools in Constantinople.
7.
The Zeitun Rebellion of 1862 by Armenians in the region of Cilicia inspired Mkrtich Beshiktashlian to write a series of famous patriotic poems and songs dedicated to the rebels.
8.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian made contact with delegates from Zeitun who came to Constantinople, and conferred with a Polish prince about joint revolutionary activity between Armenians and Poles.
9.
In 1866, Mkrtich Beshiktashlian joined the newly founded "Ser" Masonic lodge, which mostly consisted of other Constantinople Armenian intellectuals.
10.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian died of tuberculosis in 1868 at the age of 40.
11.
Mkrtich Beshiktashlian was buried in an Armenian cemetery in the Sisli district of Constantinople.