Arshavir Shirakian

Arshavir Shirakian (also Shiragian, ; January 1, 1902 or 1900 – April 12, 1973) was an Armenian writer and assassin who was noted for his assassination of Said Halim Pasha and Cemal Azmi as an act of vengeance for their roles in the Armenian genocide. His memoirs, It was the Will for the Martyrs (Կտակն էր Նահատակներուն), is a description of his life during the Armenian genocide and the Operation Nemesis.

Life Arshavir Shirakian was born in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, in 1900. Shirakian grew up around many members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. During the Armenian Genocide, Shirakian was entrusted the job of smuggling weapons and delivering secret messages amongst party members.

Operation Nemesis

Arshavir Shirakian's first target was assassinating Armenian Vahe Ihsan (Yesayan). According to his memoirs, Vahe Ihsan was "a traitor who was despised by his countrymen, his relatives, and eventually by his own children" and "helped to draw up the list of prominent Armenians who were arrested and deported in 1915."

Shirakian, along with Aram Yerganian, was later given the task to assassinate both Cemal Azmi and Behaeddin Shakir, who were in Berlin. Shirakian managed to kill only Azmi and wound Shakir. Yerganian later ran after Shakir and managed to kill him with a shot to his head. A resident of Leonia, Shirakian died in 1973 at the age of 73 at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey. He is buried in the Hackensack Cemetery in New Jersey. He is recognized and honored as a national hero by Armenians. His daughter Sonia, died in Florence, South Carolina where she is buried with her husband. She is survived by three children: Elizabeth Poston, Melineh Verma, and Arshavir Blackwell.