Mekertich Portukalian

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Armenian. (September 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Armenian Wikipedia article at [[:hy:Մկրտիչ Փորթուգալյան]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|hy|Մկրտիչ Փորթուգալյան}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Mekertich Portukalian (Armenian: Մկրտիչ Փորթուգալեան; October 21, 1848 – October 1921) was an Armenian teacher and journalist who founded the first Armenian political party, the Armenakan Party, in Van in 1885.

The son of a banker in Constantinople,^[1] Portukalian became a teacher and initially taught at Tokat. in 1873 Portukalian was arrested by the Ottoman authorities and the school he directed in Tokat was closed. He was released the same year and became the editor of the journal Asia in Constantinople. After a trip to Western Anatolia and the Balkans, he opened a school in Van in 1878. The school soon fell apart due to conflict among its members, and closed before the end of the year. During and immediately after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, he traveled to various cities in Russian and Ottoman Armenia, calling on Armenians to take up armed struggle. After the war, he participated in the creation of the Black Cross revolutionary society in Van.

Portukalian opened another school in Van in 1881. In 1885, he and his disciples founded the Armenakan Party, the first modern Armenian political party, which declared its goal to be the establishment of an independent Armenia by means of armed rebellion. In 1885, Portukalian's school in Van was closed by the Ottoman authorities, after which he was exiled and settled in Marseille.^[1] In Marseille, Portukalian maintained his ties with the leaders of the party and began the publication of the first pro-revolutionary Armenian newspaper, Armenia.^[2]

Portukalian died in Marseille in 1921.

• Armenian Patriotic Society of Europe

Profile on the site of Armenakan party (in Armenian)

This article about an Armenian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This Ottoman biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e