Armen Garo

Garegin or Karekin Pastermadjian (Armenian: Գարեգին Փաստրմաճեան), better known by his nom de guerre Armen Garo or Armen Karo (Արմէն Գարօ; 9 February 1872 – 23 March 1923) was an Armenian activist and politician. Armen Karo was a leading member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation for more than two decades. He was one of the masterminds of the 1896 occupation of the Ottoman Bank in response to the Hamidian massacres, and of Operation Nemesis, in which several perpetrators of the Armenian genocide were assassinated. Between 1918 and 1920 he served as the first ambassador to the United States from the First Republic of Armenia.

Early life

Karekin Pastermadjian was born in Erzurum. He finished his elementary education as one of the first graduates of the Sanasarian College of Erzurum. in 1891. Later in 1894, he continued his studies in France to study agriculture at the Agricultural School of Nancy-Université. During this period he became one of several Armenian students in Europe to join the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).

1895 Zeitun Resistance

His plans to return to his hometown after graduating came to a halt when massacres and conflict began in Zeitun. He left his studies to aid his compatriots in Zeitun. He soon found himself in Geneva, where he became an activist alongside his friends. He was sent to Egypt to assist the Zeitun Resistance. With Sarkis Srentz, Haig Tiriakian (who assumed the name Hratch), and Max Zevrouz, he left Egypt and returned to the Ottoman Empire to participate in the efforts of the ARF. It was around this time that Karekin Pastermadjian first assumed the name Armen Garo.