Nikol Aghbalian
24 March , 1875 -
15 August , 1947
Born in Tiflis, Aghbalian studied at the Nersisian School in his hometown and subsequently Gevorgian College in Ejmiatzin. He later attended universities in Moscow, Paris (the Sorbonne), and Lausanne, Switzerland.
Joining the ranks of the ARF in his youth, he was sent to Egypt in 1905 on organizational work. From 1909 to 1912 he was director of the Armenian National School in Tehran, as well as a member of the ARF Central Committee there.
In 1913 Aghbalian was appointed a member of the Horizon editorial team, along with Arshak Jamalian, in Tiflis. He was also a member of the Tiflis National Bureau and the organizing committee of the Armenian Volunteer Movement in 1914–1915.
After Armenian independence, he was elected a member of parliament and appointed Minister of Education. Due to his efforts, the Armenian State University was founded, in Alexandropol, on January 31, 1920.
Aghbalian was arrested by the Bolsheviks on February 9, 1921, but was freed due to the February Revolt 10 days later. He crossed into Iran, then settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where he became director of the Armenian school.
He was a founder of the Hamazkayin Cultural Association in 1928, in Egypt. He also co-founded, together with Levon Shant, Hamazkayin’s college (Jemaran) in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1929–1930. He remained in Lebanon as a teacher at the college until his death.
Aghbalian is acknowledged as an erudite philologist and impartial literary critic, gifted with a profound sense of literature and art.
He died in Beirut. He was 74.