Astevick Davitian was the courageous daughter of Yeprem Khan, the legendary Armenian commander who played a pivotal role in Iran’s Constitutional Revolution. While Yeprem’s name is etched in the annals of Iranian history as a fearless leader and military strategist, Astevick’s story remains largely untold—a powerful symbol of the often-overlooked role of women, particularly young girls, in the struggle for freedom.
Raised in the shadow of revolution, Astevick was barely a teenager when she picked up arms alongside her father’s militia in the city of Rasht. Her mother, Anahita Davitian, was equally involved, helping to smuggle arms into Iran from Baku and leading one of the early underground women’s groups committed to the Constitutional cause.
Anahita Davitian, mother of Astevick and wife of Yeprem Khan, was among the first women to play an active role in the struggle against foreign loans during the Constitutional Revolution. She was a leading figure in women’s organizations, and a British publication once referred to her as “the most active female leader in Iran”—a woman who, through her fiery speeches, spread anti-colonial ideas among the country’s women.
In her father’s 120-strong battalion, 19 fighters were women— Astevick among them, only 13 years old, undergoing daily military drills, learning trench warfare, and handling firearms.
Astevick later recalled those turbulent years, writing:
“I found myself during a time when war and chaos shaped my daily routine… I had heard the cries of wounded women—seen them drenched in blood—but never retreating from the frontline.”
In one harrowing battle, 20 constitutionalists were killed and 15 injured. Among the fallen were women fighters, including two named Azra and Leyla, who reportedly took down an enemy machine gunner before being fatally wounded themselves.
Her father, Yeprem Khan—born Yeprem Davitian of Gandzak—was assassinated near Hamadan in 1912. His reputation as a revolutionary icon remains unchallenged.
Astevick Davitian was a soldier, a witness, and a chronicler of Iran’s first generation of armed revolutionary women.
Morgan Shuster, in his book The Strangling of Persia, also pointed to the depth of this women’s movement—a movement that, after the Black Coup of Reza Khan, fell victim to the vengeance of a Cossack officer who feared revolutionary women more than any other enemy.
