Background
Avetaranian was born in Erzurum, in 1861, to a Muslim family. His mother was deaf, blind, and mute, and died when Avetaranian was only two years old.
Avetaranian was born in Erzurum, in 1861, to a Muslim family. His mother was deaf, blind, and mute, and died when Avetaranian was only two years old.
He translated the New Testament into the Uyghur language. His father was a dervish. He took the Armenian name of John Avetaranian (Avetaran means "Gospel") and was baptised in Tiflis, Russia (modern-day Tbilisi, Georgia) on 28 February 1885.
During the trip, Aveteranian and his father had put on the Green turbans, to which only the Sayyids or descendants of Muhammad are entitled.
Prior to this, he had only worn this once in his childhood. A local Mullah was astonished to see the green turban, and inquired as to from where he had obtained lieutenant
After this incident, Aveteranian gained respect from the Mullah, who would always defer to him, while in Avetaranian"s presence. He was the first person from the Mission Union of Sweden to stay in Kashgar (in 1892).
He left Kashgar in 1897, thinking that he would soon return, but that did not work out.
Instead he worked with the German Orient Mission (DOM) in Bulgaria, where he started a Christian newspaper, Gunesh, in Turkish. The newspaper was circulated in Turkey proper. Gösta Raquette came to Philipopol, now Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he worked with Avetaranian on revision of the Bible translation.