Artur Aslani Mkrtchyan ( hy, Արթուր Ասլանի Մկրտչյան; 16 February 1959 – 14 April 1992) was the first Chairman of the Supreme Council of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Artsakh controls a part of the former N ...

, elected on 7 January 1992. He made an important contribution to reinforcing the defensive capabilities of the

, but was fatally shot under unclear circumstances in April 1992.

Biography

Artur Mkrtchyan was born in 1959 in the village of Ukhtadzor in the Hadrut District of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...

. After graduating from the village secondary school in 1976, he entered the faculty of history at

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; hy, Երևանի Պետական Համալսարան, ԵՊՀ, ''Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran''), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919 ...

. After graduating from university, he conducted his post-graduate studies at the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. From 1981 to 1983 he worked at the

Armenia Ethnography Museum Officially, the Armenia Ethnography Museum and the National Liberation Movement, is a state-owned museum of Armenia located in the village of Araks, Armavir Province, within the Sardarapat Memorial complex, around 10 km southwest of the prov ...

. In 1986 he returned to his hometown to work as the director of the Hadrut Historical-Geological Museum. In 1988 he defended his PhD thesis and received the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences. Mkrtchyan was an active participant in the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement ( hy, Ղարաբաղյան շարժում, also the Artsakh movement Արցախյան շարժում) was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the ma ...

from its early days. He joined the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

(ARF) and after that party's victory in the

1991 Nagorno-Karabakh parliamentary election File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

, he was elected the first Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on 7 January 1992. Mkrtchyan was killed in his apartment in Stepanakert under mysterious circumstances on 14 April 1992. 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. In 2019, former commander of the NKR's army,

Samvel Babayan Samvel Andraniki Babayan ( hy, Սամվել Անդրանիկի Բաբայան; born 5 March 1965) is an Armenian military commander and politician from Nagorno-Karabakh. He was one of the founders and main commanders of the Artsakh Defence Army ...

, claimed that Mkrtchyan's death was a suicide․ No one has ever been prosecuted in connection with his death. He was succeeded by Georgy Petrosyan as acting chairman of the Supreme Council. Mkrtchyan had two children. In 2020, Mkrtchyan was posthumously awarded the title of

Hero of Artsakh Hero of Artsakh ( hy, Արցախի հերոս, Artsakhi heros) is the highest title of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. According to the official website of the President of Artsakh, the title Hero of Artsakh "is awarded for exceptional se ...

References

1959 births 1992 deaths People from Hadrut Province Politicians from the Republic of Artsakh Members of the National Assembly (Artsakh) Deaths by firearm in Armenia {{Armenia-politician-stub