Mkrtich Achemian

Achemian was born in 1838 in Ortaköy, a suburb of Constantinople and received his early education in a local Armenian school.

Beginning in 1852, he continued his education at the Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael in Venice where he developed his literary talent under Ghevont Alishan.

He returned to Constantinople in 1858 and started working for the State Telegraph Administration, he kept this job for most of his life.

Achemian's poems are written in refined Modern Armenian, they are delicate and reach in rhymes that impart a certain musicality.

He was a renowned poet in his time, but he was unwilling or unable to change his style of poetry which lost its flavor in the 1880s.