Nubar Ozanyan (code name “Orhan,” in honor of the famous Turkish-Armenian Marxist-Leninist Armenak (Orhan) Bakirciyan) was killed while fighting ISIS/DAESH forces Rojava on Aug. 14, according to several sources. Ozanyan was a member of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) and the Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey (TIKKO).
Following his death, the Istanbul-based Nor Zartonk movement released a statement in Turkish praising Ozanyan’s fight against ISIS.
“We have learned with great sadness that Armenian revolutionary commander unger (comrade) Nubar Ozanyan died when fighting against ISIS/DAESH with TKP/ML and TIKKO in Rojava, on Aug. 14, 2017. With revolutionary modesty, commitment, resolve, courage, and internationalist spirit, unger Nubar has been one of the important bearers of the Armenian revolutionary tradition. We are deeply saddened to have lost a genuine revolutionary who has succeeded in becoming an agent of the revolution. May the light illuminate your path. Your struggle will live on through our struggle. Long live the revolution and long live socialism. Long live international solidarity,” read the Nor Zartonk statement, as translated by the Armenian Weekly.
According to some reports, Ozanyan had taken part in the Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh) Liberation War in the 1990s. “From Lebanon and Palestine to Nagorno-Karabagh and Rojava, we are so honored to have known Orhan, who showed us what it means to be a guerrilla,” the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) tweeted on Aug. 15.
The IRPGF is a militant, armed, self-organized, and horizontal collective of anarchist fighters from around the world.