He was a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) political party.

[2] Arabo was born in the village of Kurter in the region of Sasun in the Bitlis vilayet.

[1] Initially, Arabo had formed a group modeled on those of the Kurdish bandits, to rob their enemies in turn and becoming a folk hero among Armenians.

In 1892, he was arrested by Turkish authorities and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, but escaped from prison and resumed his fedayi activities.

[1] In spring of 1893, while returning to Ottoman Armenia from the Caucasus to help rebels from Sasun, he was killed in 1895 along with four of his comrades during a battle with Kurdish bands on the road from Khnus to Mush.