Tamar Zapinian-Ter Hakopian (1873 – 1896)

Tamar Zapinian was born in 1873 in Zeitun. As far as she lost her parents quite soon after her birth, she was sent to the missionary school by her protestant uncles. In Zeytoun, only the children of the priests were educated, and the people were mostly indifferent towards educational issues. In 1860’s, several Armenian schools were open in the four districts of Zeitun. One of them was founded in 1880 by the Armenian United Society of Constantinople. Tamar Zapinian was teaching in this school and made some propagandistic work for girls’ education. In this period girls had to be married at very young age, so the education was something they were not supposed to receive, however Tamar was very consistent not only to teach them grammar, but she was also trying to change their way of living. Within the passing years, Tamar’s effective work reached quite good results: in 1909, the National Association of Armenian women of Constantinople helped to found higher education establishments, where many generations of girls were educated and engaged in social affairs.

In: Sona Zeytlian, The role of the Armenian woman in the Armenian revolutionary movement, Los Angeles, California, 1992, p. 141 (in Armenian).