The Sanasarian College (, ) was an Armenian-language educational institution in the city of Erzurum (called Karin by Armenians), Ottoman Empire founded in 1881A few facts about Turkey under the reign of Abdul Hamid II. By An American observer, p.54 by an Armenian merchant, Mkrtich Sanasarian.The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the eighteenth century to modern times By Agop Jack Hacikyan, Gabriel Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk, p.337 Its students were children of primary and secondary school age. It also had a pedagogical department for the training of Armenian teachers and a trade school.
Description
It was a school of high grade which consisted of teachers who were mostly educated in Germany. The college had a nine-year course, with a high grade education that was taught.The Missionary herald at home and abroad: Volume 86 - Page 362 - American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The school lasted until the Armenian genocide, when most of the teachers were killed and the building was ruined. Sanasarian college was a foremost institution for Armenian culture and education in the eastern provinces during the decades before World War I.The Republic of Armenia: The first year, 1918-1919 By Richard G. Hovannisian -p.436
English explorer, writer, and natural historian Isabella Bird (1831–1904) described the college as follows:
After the Armenian genocide, and when the property was abandoned, the Sanasarian College was chosen as the location for the Erzurum Congress.Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia, pp. 435-436. - Profile at Google Books
Legal status In 2012, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople appealed to a court in Ankara for the return of the properties owned by the Sanasarian College. These properties include nine plots of land in Erzurum, a garden house and vast farmland in the village of Aghveren, two plots in the village of Gez, and a large commercial property known as Sanasarian Han in the Sirkeci district of Istanbul. The court proceedings are still pending.
Notable graduates Karekin Pastermadjian Grigoris Balakian Vartkes Serengülian Vartan Makhokhian
See also Nersisian School Education in the Ottoman Empire
References