Rafayel Yeranosyan - “Pahlevan” at AGBU Performing Art Center in Pasadena, CA, March 14 2025, (818) 265-0506 
The Armenian American Museum Young Leaders Council in Glendale, CA. December 13th - 15th at 7:00 PM. Call: (818) 926-8108 Avetik Sahakyan
Monday, February 1, 2021
Avetik Hovhannesi Sahakian (1863–1933), also known as Father Abraham, was an Armenian politician, the Parliamentary President (speaker) of the First Republic of Armenia in 1918–19, the social security minister and member of ARF Dashnaktsutiun Eastern Bureau. He was also known as an agricultural scientist.
Sahakian was born in Jalaloghly, Tiflis Governorate (present-day Stepanavan, Armenia). He was included in Western Armenian liberation activities (since 1898) and ARF Caucasian project. He married Varvara Sahakyan, who became one of the first three women elected to parliament in Armenia in 1919. He became Chairman of Parliament in 1918.
Following the Bolshevik takeover of Armenia in 1920, Sahakyan was imprisoned. Following his release, the couple and their children fled on foot to Tabriz in Persia, before settling in Iraq. However, the climate affected Varvara's health, and the family relocated to Beirut. He died in 1933.
