Soghomon Tehlirian was an Armenian revolutionary and soldier who assassinated Talaat Pasha, the former Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, in Berlin on March 15,1921.
24 Facts About Soghomon Tehlirian
2.
Soghomon Tehlirian was born on April 2,1896, in the village of Nerkin Bagarij, in the Erzurum vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.
3.
Soghomon Tehlirian's father left for Serbia to secure the family's planned move to the country.
4.
Soghomon Tehlirian received his initial education at the Protestant elementary school in Erzinjan.
5.
All told, Soghomon Tehlirian lost 85 family members to the Armenian Genocide.
6.
Meanwhile, Operation Nemesis was being set up to assassinate leaders responsible for the Armenian genocide and Soghomon Tehlirian's killing of Mgrditichian convinced Nemesis operatives to entrust him with the assassination of Talat Pasha.
7.
Soghomon Tehlirian received the photographs of seven leading CUP leaders, whose whereabouts Nemesis was tracking, and departed for Europe, going first to Paris.
8.
Soghomon Tehlirian's main target was Talaat Pasha, who was a member of the military triumvirate known as the "Three Pashas" who controlled the Ottoman Empire.
9.
Soghomon Tehlirian was the former Minister of the Interior and Grand Vizier, and was noted for his prominent role in the Armenian Genocide.
10.
Soghomon Tehlirian crossed the street to view him from the opposite sidewalk, then crossed it once more to walk past him to confirm his identity.
11.
Soghomon Tehlirian then turned around and pointed his gun to shoot him in the nape of the neck.
12.
The assassination took place in broad daylight and led to the German police immediately arresting Soghomon Tehlirian, who had been told by his handlers, Armen Garo and Shahan Natalie, not to run from the crime scene.
13.
Soghomon Tehlirian was tried for murder, but was eventually acquitted by the twelve-man jury.
14.
The defense attorneys made no attempt to deny the fact that Soghomon Tehlirian had killed a man, and instead focused on the influence of the Armenian Genocide on Soghomon Tehlirian's mental state.
15.
Soghomon Tehlirian claimed during the trial that he had been present in Erzincan in 1915 and had been deported along with his family and personally witnessed their murder.
16.
Soghomon Tehlirian remained calm, and thoughts of vengeance did not occur to him.
17.
Soghomon Tehlirian carried on as before until five to six weeks later, when he saw a dream, materially almost like a vision.
18.
Soghomon Tehlirian cannot turn me away when I go to be with her in heaven.
19.
Soghomon Tehlirian then moved to Marseille and then Yugoslavia and eventually married Anahit Tatikian who was from Erzincan.
20.
Soghomon Tehlirian was 15 when they first met in 1917.
21.
Soghomon Tehlirian died in 1960 of a cerebral hemorrhage, and is buried at the Ararat Cemetery in Fresno, California.
22.
Soghomon Tehlirian's monument-grave is an obelisk with a gold-plated eagle slaying a snake on top.
23.
The point in favor of Schwartzbard and Soghomon Tehlirian was that each was a member of an ethnic group that did not possess its own state and legal system, that there was no tribunal in the world to which either group could have brought its victims.
24.
In 2014, Soghomon Tehlirian's story was told in a graphic novel, Special Mission: Nemesis.