KAJAZNUNI HOVHANNES, (Ter-Hovhannisyants), was born on February 1, 1868 , in Akhalkalak. Public-political figure, statesman, architect. Member of ARF Party. He studied at the Tiflis real school. In 1893 graduated from St. Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineers. 

In 1893-1895 and 1899-1906 Kajaznuni worked in Baku, then in 1895-1897 in Batum and in 1897-1899 in Tiflis as an engineer-architect. Many houses, a hospital, in Baku and café in Tiflis (not preserved), etc. were built on his project and supervision. In 1909, the design and construction of the Armenian Church of St. Thaddeus and Bartholomew in Baku (now destroyed) was tasked to Kajaznuni. Without finishing the construction, avoiding the arrest in St. Petersburg for the case of "Dashnaktsutyun", in 1911 Kajaznuni settled in Vaspurakan, was engaged in revolutionary activity, he designed and built a House of Workers in Van (1911-1912). In 1914 he returned to Transcaucasia.  

In 1917, Kajaznuni was elected as a member of the Armenian National Council. In late 1917 and early 1918, he was the representative of Dashnaktsutyun party in the Transcaucasian Sejm, then Minister of Finance of Transcaucasia Democratic Federative Republic (April-May 1918). Participated in Trabzon (1918, March-April) and Batumi (May-June) peace negotiations along with Alexander Khatisyan and Mikael Babajanyan, signed the Treaty of Batum.

In May 1918 in the Armenian National Council in Tiflis Kajaznuni made a decision on the declaration of the independence of Armenia and was unanimously appointed prime minister (in office until the beginning of 1919), formed a government that came to Yerevan in July 1918. In February 1919, Kajaznuni moved to Europe and the United States for the organization of aid to Armenia; the first aid arrived in spring. Kajaznuni participated in the Paris Peace Conference, in September 1920 he returned to Armenia, where he  was arrested after the establishment of the Soviet regime, and was released only during the February  uprising of 1921. In 1921-1924 he lived in Bucharest. 

In August 1923 Kajaznuni left ARF party and published a brochure entitled “Dashnaktsutyun Has Nothing to Do Any More" (1923). In 1924, he applied to the government of Soviet Armenia with the request to return to his homeland. From 1925 Kajaznuni lived in Yerevan, he taught at the Technical Faculty of the Yerevan State University, and then in the Institute of Construction (received the title of Professor), in 1927-1931 he was the Deputy Chairman of the Technical Committee of Construction attached to the ASSR State Planning. Designed and implemented the construction of cotton plant Armavir and Yerevan (1925, not preserved) and settlements for workers', residential building in Gyumri ("Navak", 1936), an office building in Aparan, etc. He is the author of the book "One hundred and ten days in Europe," articles on architecture, art, literature, and memoirs, short stories, participated in the preparation of Russian-Armenian dictionary of construction terms. On February 10, 1938 he was arrested and died in prison.

 

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