The last talented representative of Western Armenian lyrics, Mateos (Trdat) Zarifyan, was born on January 17, 1894 in the suburb of Constantinople, Ketik Pasha. In 1913, he graduated from the Perper College, receiving a diploma in art history. From 1914 onwards, he worked as a teacher at the same college. After the outbreak of the First World War, he was drafted into the Turkish army. Protesting against the harsh conditions of the life in barracks, not wanting to serve in the enemy army, he maked several attempts to escape and was sentenced to exile by a military tribunal. Thanks to the petition of his friends, the sentence was replaced by imprisonment and hard labor, and subsequently, he worked as an orderly in a military hospital. In 1919, he worked as a translator at the British military mission, and then at the Perper College as a teacher of English and Physical Education. In 1921, the poet's health deteriorated sharply and he and his parents moved to the island of Prinkipo in the Marmara Sea. On April 9, 1924, Zarifyan died.

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