Artur Mkrtchyan | |
|---|---|
| Արթուր Մկրտչյան | |
 Mkrtchyan on a 1993 stamp of Nagorno-Karabakh | |
| Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic | |
| In office 8 January 1992 – 14 April 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | Oleg Yesayan |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Georgi Petrosian (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1959-02-16)16 February 1959 |
| Died | 14 April 1992(1992-04-14) (aged 33) |
| Party | ARF |
| Alma mater | Yerevan State University |
Artur Aslani Mkrtchyan (Armenian:Արթուր Ասլանի Մկրտչյան; 16 February 1959 – 14 April 1992) was the first Chairman of the Supreme Council of theNagorno-Karabakh Republic, who was elected on 7 January 1992.[1]He made an important contribution to reinforcing the defensive capabilities of theNagorno-Karabakh Republic, but was fatally shot under unclear circumstances in April 1992.
Artur Mkrtchyan was born in 1959 in the village ofUkhtadzor in theHadrut District of theNagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.[2] After graduating from the village secondary school in 1976, he entered the faculty of history atYerevan State University.[2] After graduating from university, he conducted his post-graduate studies at theInstitute of Anthropology and Ethnography inMoscow.[2] From 1981 to 1983 he worked at theArmenia Ethnography Museum.[2] In 1986 he returned to his hometown to work as the director of the Hadrut Historical-Geological Museum.[2] In 1988 he defended his PhD thesis and received the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences.[2]
Mkrtchyan was an active participant in theKarabakh movement from its early days.[2] He joined theArmenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and after that party's victory in the1991 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary election, he was elected the first Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on 7 January 1992.[2]
Mkrtchyan was killed in his apartment in Stepanakert under mysterious circumstances on 14 April 1992.[3] While an initial report by the NKR's interior minister, Armen Isagulov, stated that Mkrtchyan had been killed by unknown "gunmen," a later official report described his death as accidental.[4][5] In 2019, former commander of the NKR's army,Samvel Babayan, claimed that Mkrtchyan's death was a suicide․[6] No one has ever been prosecuted in connection with his death.[7] He was succeeded byGeorgy Petrosyan as acting chairman of the Supreme Council.[4]
Mkrtchyan had two children. In 2020, Mkrtchyan was posthumously awarded the title ofHero of Artsakh.[7]
On January 8, 1992, Artur Mkrtchian was elected President and Oleg Yessaian as Prime Minister of Karabagh by Karabagh's Parliament. Note that this Presidency is not an independent office such as in the United States.
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