Armenian fedayi

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Armenian fedayi
A fedayi group fighting under the ARF banner. The banner reads Liberty or Death.
Active	1880s–1920s
Country	Ottoman Empire Russian Empire Qajar Iran
Allegiance	Armenians Dashnak Hunchak Armenakan
Type	Militia
Size	40,000 during the Genocide
Engagements	Armenian National Liberation Movement Iranian Constitutional Revolution Armenian Genocide Resistance
Commanders
Before 1893	Arabo
1893–1899	Aghbiur Serob
1899–1904	Andranik
1904–1907	Kevork Chavush

Fedayi (Eastern Armenian: Ֆիդայի, romanized: Fidayi; Western Armenian: Ֆէտայի, Fedayi), also known as the Armenian irregular units or Armenian militia, were Armenian civilians who voluntarily left their families to form self-defense units and irregular armed bands in reaction to the mass murder of Armenians and the pillage of Armenian villages by criminals, Turkish and Kurdish gangs, Ottoman forces, and Hamidian guards during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II in late 19th and early 20th centuries, known as the Hamidian massacres. Their ultimate goal was always to gain Armenian autonomy (Armenakans) or independence (Dashnaks, Hunchaks) depending on their ideology and the degree of oppression visited on Armenians.

Some of the key Fedayi figures also participated in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution that commenced during the same period, upon agreement of the ARF leaders.

The Armenian term fedayi is ultimately derived from Arabic fedayeen: فدائيون fidā'īyūn, literally meaning "those who sacrifice".^[1][2]