The International Newsletter of Communist Studies Online IX

The International Newsletter of Communist Studies Online 16/2003 58
Markarovna Khagikian. Armeno-Iranian, he went to an Armenian school in Tabriz for five years (1906–10)
before his parents moved to Mashhad, where his elder brother worked at the customs office. From 1910 to
1914 Orbeliani continued his studies on his own, particularly learning foreign languages, notably Russian,
English and French. Thereafter, due to his family’s poverty, he worked, until 1917, as an employee of the local
finance office. From 1917 till 1920 he was an employee of the British-owned Imperial Bank of Persia. Between
1921 and 1923 he worked as a translator for the Soviet diplomatic service in Tehran; then for the next five years
he was in the employ of the Soviet diplomatic service, notably at the TASS agency, producing a radio bulletin in
Persian and Russian. In 1924 he was recruited by the GPU/OGPU (future NKVD). In 1928 he moved to the USSR
and worked, until 1935, as an operative agent at the NKVD. Between September 1935 and September 1936 he
was in charge of the Iranian section at the KUTV (The Moscow Communist University of Toilers of the East),
however, because of its closure, he became unemployed. From the moment of filling out his questionnaire in
1936, he was in charge of the secretariat of the Comintern editorial board while remaining a special reserve
agent of the NKVD.
Orbeliani’s »revolutionary activity« began in 1917 when he, under the influence of the October revolution and
in opposition to British rule in Iran, joined a group of Iranians in the nationalist circles. He took part in the
struggle against the British imposed Anglo-Iranian 1919 Agreement (at this time he was working for the British
bank in Iran). He read Bolshevik literature and entered into contact with »comrades« coming from the Soviet
Union to Mashhad. He was arrested and imprisoned for four months after the British-led 1921 coup. He joined
the Armenian Workers’ Party in 1923 and, through contacts with ICP activist Seyfi, also the ICP in 1924.
Thereafter he became active among left-wing Armenians who in 1923 created the Armenian Workers’ Party
which dissolved itself in 1927 and whose most faithful and resilient members joined the ICP. Then, on the
orders of the CC, he created a legal Armenian party, named Nor-Ugi, in order to continue anti-Dashnak
activities among Armenians. He was also active in the labor movement and was in charge of publishing secret
declarations and night-flyers for the party (presumably printed at the TASS headquarters). He was arrested in
1925 in connection with his activities within the two communist parties but released through the intervention
of Soviet envoy Yurenev. In 1928 he was exiled from Iran upon the revelations by several former communists of
his publishing activities for the party. Upon his arrival in Moscow, Wagner of the Eastern Section of the
Comintern sent him to the CPSU so that his membership could be transferred from the ICP. He became a
candidate for membership and passed the two year training period, however his membership was withheld due
to the new rules and the purges in 1932.
Orbeliani married a Russian (Armeno-Russian) in 1920. His mother, sister and brother remained in Iran. The
latter, a government employee, was active among the Armenians. Beginning as a Danshnak, he became a
convinced Bolshevik in 1920 and was in contact with the Soviet consul in Mashhad. He made a speech at the
mourning ceremonies held for Lenin in 1924. He was arrested in 1932, and condemned to fifteen years
58 The Comintern operative in Iran Shoureshian claims that he had two other pseudonyms, namely, Arabali and
Mohammad-Ali. Farzanheh, Parvandeh, p. 160. These two are not mentioned by him in his Comintern files!