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Sophie Areshyan (in Armenian: Սոֆի Արեշյան, Sofi Areshyan; born in Tbilisi in 1881, died in Montreal in 1971), also known by her pseudonym of Rubina, was an Armenian revolutionary and fedayee. She joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) after meeting several leaders of the organization in Baku and became politically aligned with the far left under their influence. She quickly earned the trust and friendship of Christapor Mikaelyan, one of the organization's founders, and was invited to participate in Operation Nejuik, which aimed to assassinate Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the principal orchestrator of the Hamidian massacres that resulted in the deaths of between 100,000 and 300,000 Armenians.

Areshyan became deeply involved in the project and took on a central role in its execution, especially after Mikaelyan's death. She was responsible for setting up the bombs for detonation and activating the timer during the culmination of the plot, the Yıldız Mosque bombing.

Sentenced to death in absentia, Areshyan became a prominent figure within the ARF over time, with the failures of the plot being attributed to her rival within the commando, Martiros Margarian. She later accompanied other ARF leaders during their arrest by the Russian Empire, which led to her own imprisonment. After her release, she visited Hamo Ohanjanian, the future Prime Minister of Armenia, in Siberia and married him there. She also played an active role in founding the Hamazkayin network, the leading network of Armenian diaspora schools.

Her memory, largely forgotten, was revived in the early 21st century by Gaïdz Minassian and Houri Berberian.

Biography

Sophie Areshyan was born in 1881 in Tbilisi to a wealthy Armenian family that owned land but was Russian-speaking. Her father and brother were high-ranking officers in the Russian army. At the time, Tbilisi was a vibrant cultural hub and home to the largest Armenian population in the Caucasus. It was also a melting pot of various communities and a hotspot for revolutionary ideas. Areshyan graduated from high school at the age of 19 and began teaching workers in the oil industry in Baku.

In Baku, she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, making her a neighbor of Nikol Duman, one of the leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). During her stay, she met several ARF leaders, including its co-founder Christapor Mikaelyan and Martiros Margarian. It was also in Baku that she met her future husband, Hamo Ohanjanian, who would later become the Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia. Reflecting on their initial relationship, she later remarked:

I promise that we loved each other in silence and thus began our tragedy – after all, was he not married?

According to Gaïdz Minassian, Areshyan may have had an intimate relationship with Mikaelyan during this period, but this claim is contested by Houri Berberian, who points out that Minassian provided no sources and seemed to rely on rumors spread later by Martiros Margaryan, with whom Areshyan had a contentious relationship. In any case, Areshyan herself stated that her political awakening occurred through her interactions with Mikaelyan and Ohanjanian, which led her to join the Armenian national liberation movement. She later reflected: 'I was shaken; all this was a new world for me’. Areshyan began learning Armenian in 1903, at around the age of 22, as noted by her comrade Abraham Gyulkhandanyan.

The revolutionary seems to have made a strong impression on Mikaelyan, as he soon invited her to join him in the plot to assassinate Abdul Hamid II. Areshyan accepted the invitation and set out. She first traveled to Greece, where she adopted the alias Rubina Fein, posing as the daughter of a Jewish merchant named Samuel Fein, who was, in fact, Mikaelyan. Using this false identity, she then traveled to Smyrna and later to Constantinople, arriving in 1904.

Before involving her more deeply in the project, the organizers held a meeting to discuss whether women should be included in the assassination attempt or "spared" from such tasks. However, they decided it was inappropriate to debate this issue without consulting the women themselves. On 4 December 1904, 'Rubina', 'Emille' (Sophie Rips), and 'Michelle' joined the discussions and declared their full willingness to participate in the project. They expressed offense at the very question and stated that, if necessary, they would carry out the operation on their own. The inclusion of women in such a significant role within an organization like the ARF was not surprising, given the prominent presence of women in leftist revolutionary movements of the era.

Yildiz attempt

The ARF decided to assassinate Abdul Hamid II in retaliation for the Hamidian massacres, a series of mass killings targeting Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, orchestrated under the sultan, which caused the deaths of between 100,000 and 300,000 Armenians. Alongside Areshyan and Mikaelyan, the group included Belgian anarchist Edward Joris and his wife, Anna Nellens, who joined the operation out of ideological alignment. Areshyan, one of the few members fluent in German, acted as a liaison between the anarchists and the Armenian militants.

The group frequently faced disagreements and internal conflicts. After Areshyan and Mikaelyan initially scouted the location, the group first proposed throwing bombs directly at the sultan to ensure his death by targeting him personally. However, this plan was strongly opposed by Martiros Margarian, who favored using a bomb-laden cart instead, leading to heated disputes among the conspirators. Areshyan accused Margarian of cowardice during these debates.

I was astonished; how could one be a revolutionary and be afraid of sacrifice and not take advantage of all the positions available?

Despite her objections, Margarian’s plan gradually gained traction and was ultimately adopted. The group spent months meticulously preparing for the attack. Areshyan and other members visited the mosque dozens of times, calculating every potential location for the explosives and even timing the sultan’s movements to the second as he walked from one point to another.

The plot faced a significant setback with the tragic deaths of Mikaelyan and Vramshabouh Kendiryan. Mikaelyan, while handling the explosives, made a fatal mistake, and Areshyan witnessed the explosion. Calling him affectionately by his Armenian nickname, Hayrik (Father), she realized he was dying and gently closed his eyelids three times. Taking charge of the situation, she ensured the incident was concealed to avoid drawing the authorities' attention. She cleaned the hotel rooms used by the revolutionaries and transferred the remaining explosives to Boris Sarafov, a leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and an ally of the ARF.

Sarafov was close with the anarchist Naum Tyufekchiev, who provided the explosives for the project, though they seemed to be of a bad quality. Areshyan clashed with Margarian once again, insisting on completing the operation, even at the cost of her own life. Her determination led Edward Joris, in whose home she was staying, to leave the room in moral disapproval. Areshyan and Margarian then drew lots to decide who would detonate the bomb. When the lot fell to her, she was greatly satisfied.

On the eve of the attack, the conspirators gathered the explosives. The following morning, 21 July 1905, they set off in the bomb-laden cart carrying kilograms of melanite. The pretext chosen by the four members—Areshyan, Martiros Margarian, Emille, and the cart driver, Zareh—was that they were buying flowers for her.v The group headed toward the mosque. Areshyan brought scissors with her, sparking an argument with Margarian, as they would allow her to trigger the explosion instantly by cutting the bomb’s activation mechanism, which he deemed "unnecessary and superfluous". She also carried a revolver in case she was apprehended.

Upon arriving in front of the mosque, Areshyan set the bomb’s timer to one minute and twenty-four seconds at precisely 12:43:36 PM. The group fled, confident in the success of their mission. Areshyan and several others quickly boarded a train to Sofia, escaping the Ottoman Empire before learning the outcome of their operation.

In Sofia, Areshyan received devastating news: the attack had failed. While the explosion killed 21 people and injured 58 others, Sultan Abdul Hamid II emerged completely unscathed. He had stopped to converse with Mehmet Djemaleddin Efendi inside the mosque, delaying his exit and narrowly avoiding the blast.

After her escape, alongside other organizers of the group—some, like Edward Joris, having been captured by the police—Martiros Margarian accused Areshyan of being responsible for the failure of the attack. Areshyan vehemently defended herself, and the two openly clashed within the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). Margarian's portrayal of her was deeply sexist, painting her as a hysterical woman who would panic at the first sign of trouble. This depiction was particularly incongruous, given that Areshyan had played pivotal roles: setting the bombs during the attack, concealing the explosion and Mikaelyan's death, and coordinating with Sarafov to hide the explosives.

Despite its inaccuracy, this characterization of her as unreliable persisted for a long time within the Armenian national liberation movement, largely because Areshyan’s defense was marginalized and obscured. However, this narrative failed to convince the ARF leadership, which attributed the majority of the mission’s failures to Margarian and largely absolved Areshyan of blame. Some members of the ARF even advocated for Margarian's assassination in response to his actions.

In any case, the Ottoman authorities were unaware of Areshyan’s role. In their reports following the attack, they described her as:

For Ottoman justice, she was deemed guilty of: This characterization made by Ottoman justice is highlighted by Houri Berberian as a way of denying Areshyan any direct involvement in the process. The portrayal of her as a passive figure, akin to a virgin due to her single status, suggests that she was merely swept along by the men in the group. This perspective serves to minimize her central role in the operation—despite being one of its primary organizers and key participants. By reducing her actions and leadership to a passive role, this narrative sought to diminish her contributions and discredit her agency in the revolutionary act. Her exact actions immediately after the attack and her arrival in Sofia are difficult to trace, but she spent some time in Geneva. In 1908, she accepted an invitation from Khachatour Maloumian to join him and returned to Constantinople with Satenik, Hamo Ohanjanian’s sister. Upon learning of Hamo's arrest by the Russian authorities, along with other ARF leaders like Avetis Aharonian and Hovsep Arghutian, she left the Ottoman capital to join the Caucasus. There, she followed the imprisoned leaders and was eventually arrested by Russian authorities herself.

Her brother, Mikhaïl Areshyan, an officer who later became one of the three leaders of the Armenian volunteer units in the Russian army, managed to secure her release under the condition that she not return to the Caucasus, Moscow, or St. Petersburg. She then settled in Kharkiv for a time, where she pursued medical studies. In 1912, she joined Hamo Ohanjanian in Siberia, where he had been exiled.

The couple married near Irkutsk in 1915 before returning to Tbilissi. In the Caucasus, Areshyan worked in military hospitals during the birth of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, of which her husband became prime minister. Following the invasion of the region by the Red Army, they left via Iran and settled in Cairo. There, she participated in the founding of the Hamazkayin network in 1928.

In 1947, Areshyan moved to Montreal, where she lived near her only son and his family. In 1968, she was awarded the title of Princess of Cilicia by the Catholicos of Cilicia, Khoren I Paroian. In response to this honor, she humbly remarked, "But what have I done, after all?"

Areshyan passed away in 1971 in Montreal.

References

1. ^ Berberian 2021, p. 57-60.
2. Alloul 2018, p. 58.
3. ^ Berberian 2021, p. 67.
4. Alloul 2018, p. 41-42.
5. ^ Berberian 2021, p. 60-66.
6. Dictionary of Genocide, By Paul R. Bartrop, Samuel Totten, 2007, p. 23
7. Akçam, Taner (2006) A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility p. 42, Metropolitan Books, New York ISBN 978-0-8050-7932-6
8. Alloul 2018, p. 67-98.
9. Alloul 2018, p. 45.
10. ^ Berberian 2021, p. 73-74.
11. ^ Berberian 2021, p. 70-71.
12. Slavov, Slavi (2012). "Сарафизмьт като течение във Вътрешната македоно-одринска революционна организация". Исторически преглед (in Bulgarian) (1–2): 60–95. ISSN 0323-9748. Archived from the original on 2023-08-12. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
13. Berberian 2021, p. 66-67.
14. ^ Alloul 2018, p. 49-50.

Bibliography

• Berberian, Houri (2021). Gendered Narratives of Transgressive Politics: Recovering Revolutionary Rubina. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474462648.
• Alloul, Houssine (2018). To Kill a Sultan: A Transnational History of the Attempt on Abdülhamid II. United Kingdom. ISBN 978-1-137-48931-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)