Monte Melkonian ( hy, Մոնթէ Մելքոնեան; November 25, 1957 – June 12, 1993) was an Armenian-

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

militant. He was the leader of an offshoot of the

Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a militant organization active between 1975 and the 1990s whose stated goal was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian genocide ...

(ASALA) in the 1980s and was a commander in the Armenian army in

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

fighting Azerbaijan during the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 t ...

in the early 1990s. Melkonian left the United States and arrived in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1978 during the beginning of the

1979 Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

, taking part in demonstrations against the

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

. Following the collapse of the Shah's monarchy, he traveled to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

during the height of the civil war and served in an Armenian militia group in the

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

suburb of

Bourj Hammoud Bourj Hammoud (also spelled Burj Hammud; ar, بُرْجُ حَمُّودٍ; hy, Պուրճ Համուտ) is a town and municipality in Lebanon located north-east of the capital Beirut, in the Matn District, and is part of Greater Beirut. The t ...

. In

ASALA Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a militant organization active between 1975 and the 1990s whose stated goal was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian genocide ...

, he took part in the assassinations of several Turkish diplomats in Europe during the early to mid-1980s. He was one of the planners of the 1981 Turkish consulate attack in Paris. He was later arrested and sent to prison in France. In 1989, he was released and in the following year, acquired a visa to travel to Armenia. Melkonian had no prior service record in any country's army before being placed in command of an estimated 4,000 men in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. He had largely built his military experience beginning from the late 1970s and 1980s, when he fought in Lebanon with ASALA. Melkonian fought against various factions in the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

and against the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces *Irish Defence Forces *Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 *Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations *Israeli Diving Federation *Interaction ...

in the 1982 war. Monte Melkonian carried several aliases over his career and was known as Avo () to the troops under his command in Nagorno-Karabakh; other aliases of his include 'Abu Sindi', 'Timothy Sean McCormack', and 'Saro.' The last years of his life were spent fighting with the

Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army The Artsakh Defence Army ( hy, Արցախի Հանրապետության պաշտպանության բանակ, Artsakhi Hanrapetut’yan pashtpanut’yan banak) is the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh ( Nagorno-Karabakh). E ...

.Croissant, Michael P. (1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Causes and Implications. London: Praeger. . Monte was killed by Azerbaijani soldiers while surveying the village of Merzili with five of his comrades in the aftermath of battle. He was buried at Yerablur cemetery in Yerevan and declared a

National Hero of Armenia National Hero of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի ազգային հերոս, translit=Hayastani azgayin heros) is the highest title in Armenia. The law on the title was signed by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan on 22 April 1994. It is awarded "for o ...

in 1996.

Early life

Youth

Melkonian was born on November 25, 1957, at Visalia Municipal Hospital in

Visalia Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, to Charles (1918−2006) and Zabel Melkonian (1920−2012). He was the third of four children born to a self-employed cabinetmaker and an elementary-school teacher. By all accounts, Melkonian was described as an all-American child who joined the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are t ...

and was a pitcher in

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization He also played the clarinet. Melkonian's parents rarely talked about their Armenian heritage with their children, often referring to the place of their ancestors as the "Old Country." His interest in his background only sparked at the age of eleven, when his family went on a year-long trip to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in 1969. While taking Spanish language courses in Spain, his teacher had posed him the question of where he was from. Dissatisfied with Melkonian's answer of "California", the teacher rephrased the question by asking "where did your ''ancestors'' come from?" His brother Markar Melkonian remarked that "her image of us was not at all like our image of ourselves. She did not view us as the Americans we had always assumed we were." From this moment on, for days and months to come, Markar continues, "Monte pondered heir teacher SeñoritaBlanca's question ''Where are you from?''" In the spring of that year, the family also traveled across

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

to visit the town of

Merzifon Merzifon ( hy, Մարզուան, Marzvan, Middle Persian: ; grc, Μερσυφὼν, Mersyphòn, el, Μερζιφούντα, Merzifounta) is a town and district in Amasya Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey. It covers an area of , ...

, where Melkonian's maternal grandparents were from. Merzifon's population at the time was 23,475 but was almost completely devoid of its once 17,000-strong Armenian population that was wiped out during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

in 1915. They did find one Armenian family of the three that was living in the town, however, Melkonian soon learned that the only reason this was so, was because the head of the family in 1915 had exchanged the safety of his family in return for identifying all the Armenians in the town to Turkish authorities during the genocide. Monte would later confide to his wife that "he was never the same after that visit....He saw the place that had been lost."

Education

Upon his return to California Monte returned to his education. In high school, he was exceeding all standards and having a hard time finding new academic challenges. Instead of graduating high school early, as was suggested by his principal, Monte found an alternative thanks to his father: a study abroad program in East Asia. At the age of 15 Monte traveled to Japan for a new chapter in his young life, namely to study martial arts and the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

. While there, he began teaching English, which helped finance his travels through several Southeast Asian countries. This introduced him to several new cultures, new philosophies, new languages, and in several cases, like his travels through

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

(shortly before the

Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...

), new skills that would become immensely valuable in his later life as a soldier. Returning to the United States, he graduated from high school and entered the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

with Regents Scholarship, majoring in

ancient Asian history Ancient history in Asia is usually taken to include ;Southwest Asia *The Ancient Near East *History of Iran, from Elam to the Persian Empire ;South Asia *Ancient India, from the Indus Valley civilization to Iron Age India *Middle kingdoms of Ind ...

and

Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...

. In 1978 he helped to organize an exhibition of Armenian cultural artifacts at one of the university's libraries. The section of the exhibit dealing with the Armenian genocide was removed by university authorities at the request of the Turkish

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

general in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. The display that was removed was eventually reinstalled following a campus protest movement. Monte eventually completed his undergraduate work in under three years. Upon graduating, he was accepted into the archeology graduate program at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. However, Monte chose to forgo this opportunity, and instead chose to begin his lifelong struggle for the Armenian Cause.

Departure from home

Teaching in Iran

After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in the spring of 1978, Monte traveled to

, where he taught English and participated in the movement to overthrow the Shah. He helped organize a teachers' strike at his school in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, and was in the vicinity of Jaleh Square when the Shah's troops opened fire on protesters, killing and injuring many. Later, he found his way to

Iranian Kurdistan Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan ( ku, ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, translit=Rojhilatê Kurdistanê) is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it ...

, where Kurdish partisans made a deep impression on him. Years later, in southern Lebanon, he occasionally wore the uniform of the Kurdish

peshmerga The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...

which he was given in Iranian Kurdistan.

Civil war in Lebanon

In the fall of 1978, Monte made his way to

, the capital of

, in time to participate in the defense of the Armenian quarter against the right-wing

Phalange The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones. ...

forces. While he was living in East Beirut, Monte worked underground with individual members of the

Social Democrat Hunchakian Party The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) ( hy, Սոցիալ Դեմոկրատ Հնչակյան Կուսակցություն; ՍԴՀԿ, translit=Sots’ial Demokrat Hnch’akyan Kusakts’ut’yun), is the oldest continuously-operating Armenian ...

and the

Lebanese Communist Party The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), abbr. PCL is a communist party in Lebanon. It was founded in 1924 by the Lebanese intellectual, writer and reporter Yusuf Yazbek and Fu'ad al-Shamali, a tobacco worker from Bikfaya. History Creation The Sy ...

. Although he never professed an allegiance to 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), he was a member of the Armenian militia that defended positions in and around

that were under the command of ARF "group leaders". Monte was a permanent member of the militia's bases in Bourj Hammoud, Western Beirut, Antelias, Eastern Beirut and other regions for almost two years, during which time he participated in several street battles against rightist forces. He also began working behind the lines in Phalangist controlled territory, on behalf of the "Leftist and Arab"

Lebanese National Movement The Lebanese National Movement (LNM) ( ar, الحركة الوطنية اللبنانية, ''Al-Harakat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya'') or Mouvement National Libanais (MNL) in French, was a front of leftist, pan-Arabist and Syrian nationalist p ...

. By this time, he was speaking Armenian – a language he had not learned until adulthood (Armenian was the fourth or fifth language Monte learned to speak fluently, after Spanish, French and Japanese. In addition, he spoke passable Arabic, Italian and Turkish, as well as some Persian and Kurdish).

ASALA

In the spring of 1980, Monte was inducted into the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (

) and secretly relocated to West Beirut. For the next three years he was an ASALA militant and contributor to the group's journal, '' Hayastan''. During this time several Palestinian militant organizations provided their Armenian comrade with extensive military training. On 31 July 1980 in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, Melkonian assassinated the Administrative Attaché of Turkish Embassy in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, Galip Ozmen, considered by Melkonian to be a legitimate target for representing a regime that committed the

, occupied northern Cyprus, massacred Kurds in Turkey, among other crimes. After his death, Özmen was also revealed to have been a Turkish intelligence (

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

) spy. Melkonian also shot the passengers in the front and back seats who were obscured by darkly tinted window glass, believing them to be other diplomats. The passengers were later revealed to be Ozmen's wife Sevil and his sixteen-year-old son Kaan, who were wounded but survived, and his fourteen-year-old daughter Neslihan, who later died of her wounds. Melkonian was reportedly unhappy to find out who the other passengers were, and later wrote that he would've spared them if he had a clearer view. Monte carried out armed operations in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Athens and elsewhere, and he helped to plan and train commandos for the " Van Operation" of September 24, 1981, in which four ASALA militants took over the Turkish

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and held it for several days. In November 1981, French police arrested and imprisoned a young, suspected criminal carrying a Cypriot passport bearing the name "Dimitri Georgiu." Following the detonation of several bombs in Paris aimed at gaining his release, "Georgiu" was returned to Lebanon where he revealed his identity as Monte Melkonian. "French authorities arrested an individual at Orly Airport whose documents identified him as 'Dimitriu Giorgiu.' Subsequent investigation revealed that he was Monte Melkonian, a ranking member of ASALA, and suspected of the attempted assassination on 25 October 1981 of the Second Secretary of the Turkish Embassy in Rome, Gokberk Ergenekon. Mujahed .e. ASALAordered not only a bombing campaign, but specifically mass bombings of public places, in an obvious attempt to cause large numbers of injuries and deaths. The campaign, undertaken under the name of the "Orly Group," produced no deaths and few injuries, but did effect Melkonian's release. Because the tactic of the retributive bombing campaign had had some success, Mujahed continued to employ it in 1982." In mid-July 1983, ASALA violently split into two factions, one opposed to the group's despotic leader, whose

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

was Hagop Hagopian, and another supporting him. Although the lines of fissure had been deepening over the course of several years, the shooting of Hagopian's two closest aides at a military camp in Lebanon finally led to the open breach. This impetuous action was perpetrated by one individual who was not closely affiliated with Monte. As a result of this action, however, Hagopian took revenge by personally torturing and executing two of Monte's dearest comrades, Garlen Ananian and Aram Vartanian.

Arrest and imprisonment

In the aftermath of this split, Monte spent over two years underground, first in Lebanon and later in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After testifying secretly for the defense in the trial of Armenian militant and accused bank robber Levon Minassian, he was arrested in Paris in November 1985 and sentenced to six years in prison for possession of falsified papers and carrying an illegal handgun. Monte spent over three years in Fresnes and

Poissy Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French. Poissy is one ...

prisons. He was released in early 1989 and sent from France to

South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

, where he was reunited with his girlfriend Seda. Together they spent year and a half living underground in various countries of

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

in relative poverty, as one

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

regime after another disintegrated.

Armenia

On October 6, 1990, Monte arrived in what was then still

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

. During the first 8 months in Armenia, Melkonian worked in the Armenian Academy of Sciences, where he prepared an archaeological research monograph on Urartian cave tombs, which was posthumously published in 1995. Finding himself on Armenian soil after many years, he wrote in a letter that he found a lot of confusion among his compatriots. Armenia faced enormous economic, political and environmental problems at every turn, problems that had festered for decades. New political forces bent on dismantling the Soviet Union were taking Armenia in a direction that Monte believed was bound to exacerbate the crisis and produce more problems. He believed that "a national blunder was taking place right before his eyes." Under these circumstances, it quickly became clear to Monte that, for better or for worse, the Soviet Union had no future and the coming years would be perilous ones for the Armenian people. He then focused his energy on

. "If we lose arabakh" the bulletin of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Forces quoted him as saying, "we turn the final page of our people's history." He believed that, if Azeri forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabakh, they would advance on

Zangezur Zangezur ( hy, Զանգեզուր) is a historical and geographical region in Eastern Armenia on the slopes of the Zangezur Mountains which largely corresponds to the Syunik Province of the Republic of Armenia. It was ceded to Russia by Qajar I ...

and other regions of Armenia. This proved prescient given Azerbaijan's insistence of a "Zangezur corridor" following the 2020 ceasefire agreement and Azerbaijan's incursion into sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia during the 2020-2021 border crisis. Thus, he saw the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh as crucial for the long-term security of the entire Armenian nation.

Nagorno-Karabakh

On September 12 (or 14) 1991 Monte travelled to the

Shahumian Shahumyan Province ( hy, Շահումյան, Shahumyan, also spelled ''Shaumyan'' and ''Shahumian'') is a claimed province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient ...

region (north of Karabakh), where he fought for three months in the fall of 1991. There he participated in the capture of Erkej, Manashid and Buzlukh villages. On February 4, 1992, Melkonian arrived in Martuni as the regional commander. Upon his arrival the changes were immediately felt: civilians started feeling more secure and at peace as Azeri armies were pushed back and were finding it increasingly difficult to shell Martuni's residential areas with GRAD missiles. In April 1993, Melkonian was one of the chief military strategists who planned and led the operation to fight Azeri fighters and capture the region of

Kalbajar Kalbajar ( az, Kəlbəcər , ) is a city and the capital of the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan. Located on the Tartar river valley, it is away from the capital Baku. The city had a population of 7,246 before its capture by Armenian forces on 2 ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

which lies between Armenia and former NKAO. Armenian forces captured the region in four days of heavy fighting, sustaining far fewer fatalities than the enemy.

Death and legacy

Monte Melkonian bust Victory Park, Yerevan2

Monte was killed in the abandoned village of Merzili in the early afternoon of June 12, 1993 during the

Battle of Aghdam The Battle of Aghdam (June – July 1993) took place on 23 July 1993 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which Armenian forces captured the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, which they considered a main staging area of Azerbaijani forces for ...

. According to Markar Melkonian, Monte's older brother and author of his biography, Monte died in the waning hours of the evening by enemy fire during an unexpected skirmish that broke out with several Azerbaijani soldiers who had likely gotten lost. Monte was buried with full military honors on June 19, 1993, at Yerablur military cemetery in the outskirts of Yerevan, where his coffin was brought from the Surb Zoravar Church in the city center. Some 50,000 to 100,000 people (some reports put the figure as high as 250,000), including Armenian President

Levon Ter-Petrosyan Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan ( hy, Լևոն Հակոբի Տեր-Պետրոսյան; born 9 January 1945), also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998 ...

, acting Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan, Deputy Foreign Minister

Gerard Libaridian Gerard Jirair Libaridian ( hy, Ժիրայր Լիպարիտեան, born 1945 in Beirut, Lebanon) is an Armenian American historian and politician. Biography From 1991 to 1997, he served as adviser, and then senior adviser to the former President of ...

, government officials, and parliamentarians attended his funeral. The Karabakh town of Martuni was renamed Monteaberd (or Monteapert; hy, Մոնթեաբերդ; literally "Fort Monte") in his honor. In 1993 the

Monte Melkonian Military Academy Officially, Military and Sports College named after Monte Melkonian ( hy, Մոնթե Մելքոնյանի անվան ռազմամարզական վարժարան), is a high school and military educational institution operated by the Ministry of Def ...

was established in Yerevan. In 2021 the village of Shahumyani Trchnafabrika was renamed Monteavan. In November 2021 a statue of Melkonian was unveiled in

Vardenis Vardenis ( hy, Վարդենիս) is a town and urban municipal community in the southeastern part of the Gegharkunik Province of Armenia. It is located in the valley of the Masrik River, on the territory of the Masrik artesian basin at above s ...

Public image

Monte had become a legend in Armenia and Karabakh by the time of his death. Due to his international socialist and Armenian nationalist views, one author described him as a mix between the early 20th century Armenian military commander

Andranik Andranik Ozanian, commonly known as General Andranik or simply Andranik;. Also spelled Antranik or Antranig 25 February 186531 August 1927), was an Armenian military commander and statesman, the best known '' fedayi'' and a key figure of the ...

and Marxist revolutionary

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

. Thomas de Waal described him as a "professional warrior and an extreme Armenian nationalist" who is "the most celebrated Armenian commander" of the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Raymond Bonner wrote in 1993 that Monte had charisma and discipline, which is why he "rapidly became the most highly regarded commander in the Karabakh War." Historian

Razmik Panossian Razmik Panossian ( hy, Ռազմիկ Փանոսեան, born 1964) is a Canadian-Armenian historian and political scientist. Career An ethnic Armenian, Panossian was born in Beirut, Lebanon and raised in Canada in a family "engaged with rmenianco ...

wrote that Monte was "a charismatic and very capable commander."

Views and beliefs

Political views

Melkonian was an

Armenian nationalist Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823) and generally defined as the creation of a free, independent and united Armenia formulated as the Armenian Cause ( hy, Հայ ...

and a revolutionary socialist. Throughout his life he sympathized with

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and vario ...

, which was also the ideology of ASALA. Vorbach wrote in 1994 that his writings "expose him as an Armenian nationalist and a committed socialist of the Marxist-Leninist variety." According to his brother he "had not always been a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

, but he had never been an ''ex''-communist." Melkonian hoped that the Soviet Union would "reform itself, democratize, and promote personal freedoms" and did not abandon hope in Soviet Armenia until the end of the Soviet era appeared inevitable. Philip Marsden wrote that his career "reveals the profound shift in radical ideology—from revolutionary Marxism to nationalism." Marsden adds that in the 1980s his ideology came into conflict with a growing nationalism: "With ever greater difficulty, he squeezed the Armenian question into the context of left-wing orthodoxy, believing for instance that Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union would be a terrible error." In the 1980s he advocated for the Soviet takeover of Turkey's formerly Armenian populated areas and its unification with Soviet Armenia. Yet he likewise supported the idea that "the most direct way... to attain the right to live in 'Western Armenia' is by participating in the revolutionary struggle in Turkey" and considered the option of Armenian self-determination within a revolutionary Turkish or Kurdish state. In the 1980s, while in a French prison, he called for the creation of a guerilla force in eastern Turkey which would unite Kurdish rebels, left-wing Turks, and Armenian revolutionaries. Vorbach summarized his views on Turkey: While in Poissy prison Monte drafted a political manifesto for his envisioned "Armenian Patriotic Liberation Movement," in which he outlines seven core principles: 1) revolutionary internationalism, 2) democracy and self-determination, 3) socialism, 4) feminism, 5) environmentalism, 6) anti-imperialism, and 7) peace and disarmament. By the early 1990s he saw Karabakh as a "sacred cause". He is quoted as saying, "If we lose Karabakh, we turn the final page of our people's history." Monte was also an

internationalist Internationalist may refer to: * Internationalism (politics), a movement to increase cooperation across national borders * Liberal internationalism, a doctrine in international relations * Internationalist/Defencist Schism, socialists opposed to ...

. In an article titled "Imperialism in the New World Order" he declared his support for socialist movements in Palestine,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, Central America and elsewhere. He also espoused

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...

from an

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as so ...

perspective. According to one author his economic views were influenced by the Beirut-based Armenian Marxist economist

Alexander Yenikomshian Ara-Alexander "Alec" Yenikomshian ( hy, Ալեք Ենիգոմշեան) (also known as Alec or Alex Yenikomechian) is an Armenian political activist and journalist, a member of Founding Parliament secretariat, co-founder of the " Miatsum Initiative ...

. Maile Melkonian, Monte's sister, wrote in response to

David Rieff David Rieff (; born September 28, 1952) is an American non-fiction writer and policy analyst. His books have focused on issues of immigration, international conflict, and humanitarianism. Biography Rieff is the only child of Susan Sontag, who w ...

's 1997 article in ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...

'' that Melkonian was never associated with and was not a supporter of the views of the

(Dashnaks).

Self-defeating behavior in daily life

Monte was said to have led an exemplary life by not smoking and drinking. Monte advocated that revolutionary socialists must lead "practical self-disciplined lives" and avoid "self-destructive habits" such as smoking or drinking alcohol: "By severely diminishing a person's self-discipline, these dependencies inhibit a person from becoming a member of the vanguard, and especially a guerrilla or fedaii." When he joined in toasts, he is said to have raised a glass of yogurt. Monte is widely known to have forbidden his soldiers consumption of alcohol. He also established a policy of collecting a tax in kind on Martuni wine, in the form of diesel and ammunition for his fighters. Monte also burned cultivated fields of cannabis in

Karabakh Karabakh ( az, Qarabağ ; hy, Ղարաբաղ, Ġarabaġ ) is a geographic region in present-day southwestern Azerbaijan and eastern Armenia, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and ...

Personal life

Monte Melkonian married his long-time girlfriend Seda Kebranian at the

Geghard Geghard ( hy, Գեղարդ, meaning "spear") is a medieval monastery in the Kotayk province of Armenia, being partially carved out of the adjacent mountain, surrounded by cliffs. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with enhanced protec ...

monastery in Armenia in August 1991. They had met in the late 1970s in Lebanon. In a 1993 interview Monte said that they had had no time to start a family. He stated, "We'll settle down when the Armenian people's struggle is over." As of 2013 Seda, an activist and a lecturer, resided in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

with her husband Joel Condon who is a professor of architecture at the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Pr ...

Awards

sources:

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * * *Melkonian, Monte (1990). ''The Right to Struggle: Selected Writings of Monte Melkonian on the Armenian National Question''. San Francisco: Sardarabad Collective * * *

External links

The Monte Melkonian Fund
is a non-profit charity established in 1995 and is dedicated in Melkonian's honor.
Gallery of Monte Melkonian
on the Melkonian Fund Website include photos of his youth, years spent in Lebanon and Karabakh.
Monte Melkonian Video
*, including an interview with his wife *2-part documentary video about Monte, including rare interviews, on Google Video
Part 1
an
Part 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melkonian, Monte 1957 births 1993 deaths American emigrants to Armenia American emigrants to Iran American people of Armenian descent Armenian colonels Armenian communists Armenian military personnel of the Nagorno-Karabakh War Armenian nationalists Armenian revolutionaries Armenian socialists Burials at Yerablur National Hero of Armenia People from Visalia, California People of the Iranian Revolution People of the Lebanese Civil War University of California, Berkeley alumni Armenian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of France