Soghomon Tehlirian

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Lore & Background

Soghomon Tehlirian was born on April 2, 1896, in the village of Bagarich (present-day Çadırkaya, Tercan, Turkey), in the Erzurum vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, and raised in Erzincan. He received his initial education at the Protestant elementary school in Erzinjan, then graduated from the Getronagan (Central) Lyceum of Constantinople and went to study engineering in Serbia, with plans to continue his education in Germany. In June 1914 he was in Valjevo, Serbia; that fall he made his way to Russia and joined the army to serve in a volunteer unit on the Caucasus Front against the Turks. According to one account, in June 1915 the Ottoman local police ordered the deportation of all Armenians in Erzinjan, and Tehlirian lost 85 family members to the Armenian Genocide. However, his son stated in 2016 that Tehlirian's mother and older brother Vasken died in the genocide, that Tehlirian did not have a sister, that his father was fighting in the war in Russia, and that his other two brothers were in Serbia. After the war, Tehlirian went to Constantinople, where he killed Harutian Mgrditichian, who had worked for the Ottoman secret police and helped compile the list of Armenian intellectuals deported on April 24, 1915. This killing convinced Operation Nemesis operatives to entrust him with assassinating Talaat Pasha. In mid-1920, the Nemesis organization paid for Tehlirian to travel to the United States, where Garo briefed him that the death sentences against the major perpetrators had not been carried out. He departed for Europe, going first to Paris, then obtained a visa to Berlin as a mechanical engineering student, leaving on December 2. He found Talaat's address at 4 Hardenbergstraße in Charlottenburg, rented a nearby apartment, and studied his everyday routine. On March 15, 1921, he shot Talaat in the nape of the neck with a single 9mm parabellum round from a Luger P08 pistol, in broad daylight, and was immediately arrested as instructed by his handlers, Armen Garo and Shahan Natalie.

Reader's Guide

Tehlirian's trial for murder in a German court was highly publicized and took place shortly after the establishment of the Weimar Republic. He was represented by three German defense attorneys, including Dr. Theodor Niemeyer, professor of law at Kiel University. Witnesses included priest and Armenian Genocide survivor Grigoris Balakian, German activist Johannes Lepsius, and German Army general Otto Liman von Sanders. The defense did not deny the killing but focused on the influence of the Armenian Genocide on Tehlirian's mental state. 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. He stated, 'I do not consider myself guilty because my conscience is clear…I have killed a man. But I am not a murderer.' He also described a dream in which his mother's corpse arose and scorned him for seeing Talaat and not taking revenge. The jury acquitted him after slightly over an hour of deliberation. The trial influenced Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who later reflected on it and was inspired to campaign for a law allowing genocide to be prosecuted under universal jurisdiction. Tehlirian is considered a national hero by Armenians. His monument-grave at Ararat Cemetery in Fresno, California, is an obelisk with a gold-plated eagle slaying a snake on top, the artist reportedly saying the eagle was 'the arm of justice of the Armenian people extending their wrath onto Talaat Pasha,' symbolized by the snake.

Did You Know?

• Tehlirian killed Harutian Mgrditichian, who had worked for the Ottoman secret police and helped compile the list of Armenian intellectuals deported on April 24, 1915, before being entrusted with assassinating Talaat Pasha.
• He shot Talaat Pasha with a single 9mm parabellum round from a Luger P08 pistol in broad daylight on March 15, 1921.
• Tehlirian was acquitted by a twelve-man jury after slightly over an hour of deliberation.
• His trial influenced Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin to campaign for a law allowing genocide to be prosecuted under universal jurisdiction.
• Tehlirian's monument at Ararat Cemetery in Fresno features a gold-plated eagle slaying a snake, symbolizing the arm of justice of the Armenian people.