Leonard Petrosyan (; 11 October 1952 – 27 October 1999) was an Armenian politician who was the acting

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Artsakh ( ), officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ( ), was a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbai ...

from 20 March 1997 to 8 September 1997. He also served as

Prime Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic The prime minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was the head of government of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between 1992 and 2017. The position of prime minister was established in 1992, and was appointed by th ...

from December 1994 to June 1998. He was killed in the 1999 Armenian parliament shooting while serving as Deputy

Prime Minister of Armenia The prime minister of Armenia () is the head of government and most senior minister within the Government of Armenia, Armenian government, and is required by the constitution to "determine the main directions of policy of the Government, manage ...

Life

Leonard Petrosyan was born in Martuni,

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

, where he attended the local primary as well as secondary school from 1958 to 1970. After serving briefly in the ranks of the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

from 1971 to 1973, he studied at the Yerevan Cooperation Institute in 1973 and later at the Yerevan Institute of National Economy in 1974. After graduating as an economist in 1979, he continued working in the system of common nutrition in an agricultural center run by the Martuni regional community of the Communist Party, a position he held since 1975 and kept until 1988. In 1988, he was appointed Deputy, then Chairman of the Agro-Industrial Committee and participated in the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement (), also known as the Artsakh movement (), was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the mainly Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast ...

. Petrosyan became the President of the National Assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh, a regional council, on 12 September 1991. He left the position on 8 January 1992 and became the first deputy head of the department of special programs of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. In December 1994, he was chosen as the

under the presidency of

Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second Presiden ...

, the first President of the

. After serving for three years as Prime Minister until June 1998, Petrosyan took over the Presidency of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Kocharyan on 20 March 1997, when the latter was appointed as

. He continued to serve as president of the

for almost months until 8 September 1997, at the same time keeping his Prime Minister position, when Arkadi Ghukasyan was elected as third president by popular vote.

Death

Petrosyan then moved to

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

and was appointed the Deputy Defence Minister of Armenia, and in 1998 became the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia. He was killed in the 1999 Armenian parliament shooting among other Armenian politicians in the hall of the Armenian National Assembly.

Personal life

He was married and the father of four children named Emil, Seda, Liana, and Never.

Awards

* Order of the Combat Cross, 1st degree (1999)

External links

Karabakh.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrosyan, Leonard 1952 births 1999 deaths People from Martuni Province Armenian State University of Economics alumni Presidents of the Republic of Artsakh Prime ministers of the Republic of Artsakh Members of the National Assembly (Artsakh) Deaths by firearm in Armenia People murdered in Armenia Victims of the Armenian parliament shooting 1990s murders in Armenia 1999 murders in Asia 1999 murders in Europe Assassinated Armenian politicians Politicians assassinated in 1999