Hrayr Kezerian (8 October 1900 – 24 October 1983) was an Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) gunman during Operation Nemesis.
Biography[]
Hrayr Kezerian was born on 8 October 1900 in Erzincan, Turkey, Ottoman Empire to a family of Armenians. Kezerian's family was rounded up by the Young Turks during the Armenian Genocide and sent on a death march to Syria; Kezerian hid with a sympathetic family of Turks, and he became fluent in Turkish while staying with them. He was later smuggled into the mountains of Georgia, escaping to the Russian Empire and learning Russian as well. He served in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, fighting against the Ottomans, and he was angered when Russia made peace with the Central Powers in 1917. Kezerian joined the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in the struggle for revenge against the Ottomans, and he was the leader of an assassination team in Operation Nemesis. Kezerian traveled to Europe to kill Ottoman diplomats or exiled politicians, and he killed Unluol Ertunc Pasha in Munich, Eylem Buruk in Paris, Velit Ulusoy in Berlin, Olsan Koca in Copenhagen, Uke Yazar in Potsdam, Zobu Muhiddin in Cannes, and Kutlu Yetis in Rome; he was one of many assassination teams. He returned home in 1922 after finishing his mission, and he died in 1983 in Yerevan in what became the Soviet Union.