Unraveling: The first and the most recent president of Artsakh

Vahe H. Apelian

LtoR: Artur Mkrtchyan, Mountainous Republic of Nagorno Karabagh Coat-of-Arms, 
Arayik Harutunyan. Courtesy Garo Konyalian

In his thought provoking yet sober analysis of the unfolding situation in Artsakh, Vahan Zanoyan wrote: “. Nagorno Karabakh is a democratic country, and the people of Nagorno Karabakh have a deep-rooted tradition of living freely. Freedom and dignified living are not only a way of life, but an essential national value. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is a dictatorship which has been ruled by the same family for three decades. By contrast, in the past 29 years, Nagorno Karabakh has had 4 different democratically elected Presidents.”

In stating the 4 different democratically elected presidents of Artsakh, Vahan Zanoyan has the following in mind Robert Kocharian (1994-1997), Arkady A. Ghoukassian (1997-2007), Bako S. Sahakyan (2007-2020), and Arayik Harutyunyan (21 May 2020 - 1 September 2023).

Before the designating a person as the president of the Mountainous Republic of Nagorno Karabagh, there was the Chairman of the Supreme Council who de facto  occupied the office that came to be the presidency of the republic. The first to be elected to that position of responsibility was a promising young man whose name was Artur Mkrtchyan. He was elected to that position in 1992, at the age of thirty-three.

Artur Mkrtchyan was born in 1959 in the village of Ukhtadzor in the Hadrut District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.  After graduating from the village secondary school in 1976, he furthered his education, in Yerevan, Moscow and in 1988 defended his PhD thesis. He was a member of ARF. His untimely death is moured with a profound sense of loss as the first de facto president of Artsakh.

“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, 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.” (Wikipedia) 

The most recent president of Republic of Artsakh is Arayik Harutunyan. I quote Wikipedia: “Harutyunyan was born in 1973 in Stepanakert, then capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, part of the Azerbaijani SSR in the Soviet Union. He became a student at the Yerevan State Institute of Economy in 1990. Two years later, in 1992, he joined the armed forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (the Republic of Artsakh) and took part in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[3] His older brother, Samvel, died in combat during the war. After the war, he transferred from the Yerevan State Institute of Economy to the Artsakh State University Faculty of Economics and graduated in 1995. Three years later, in 1998, he completed his post-graduate studies at Artsakh State University…. Harutyunyan participated in and won the 2020 Artsakhian general election, thereby becoming the fourth President of Artsakh……. On 31 August, Harutyunyan announced his resignation as president of the Republic of Artsakh.”

At this crucial junction, President Arayik Harutunyan should not have resigned. I also mean to say that the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, not only should not have accepted his resignation but should have rallied in support of Arayik Harutunyan to continue on remaining as the president the people of Artsakh elected, until the clarification of the status of Nagorno Karabagh / Artsakh. Apparently burdened by the tremendous weight of the inhumane blockade, the government of the Artsakh is wobbling. 

Prior to his resignation, Arayik Harutunyan passed a legislation, whereby authorizing the National Assembly appoint the next president. Consequently, with a stroke of pen, the presidential system of governance in Artsakh was changed to a half-baked parliamentary system, impeding the possibility of holding the presidential election which was to take place in 2025.

What was also disturbing to me was the welcoming reaction to his resignation from some in the Diaspora in the Armenian social media, and particularly reading it in the ARF press - in Hairenik and in Aztag Daily - in a posting of an article on the very same day -  August 31, 2023 – Arayki Harutunyan announced his decision to resign. The article heralding Arayik Harutunyan’s resignation, likened it to a snow ball that the author expects will roll down the hill and take with it Nikol Pachynian’ government and  hold  the principles “accountable”, but surely sparing him The title of the article is “THE NEW SNOWBALL SHOULD NOT MELT - ՆՈՐ ՁԻՒՆԱԳՆԴԱԿԸ ՊԷՏՔ ՉԷ ՀԱԼԻ).  The author is Sarkis Mahserejian, a feature in theArmenian ARF press. The editor of the Hairenik daily has made it clear to the readers that that article is one of the Hairenik Weekly’s principal articles -   Գլխաւոր Յօդուածներ. The editor has capitalized the notification but I chose not. 

It is disturbing indeed that the editors of Hairenik Weekly and Aztag Daily made room to this article at this time from Sarkis Masherejian, who is a well-known voice that almost every week colors the Armenian ARF press with his relentless attacks on the prime minster Nikol Pachinyan and his government from his abode in Los Angeles he rarely leaves, or should I say steps out. Sarkis is wondering whether Arayik Harutunyan and his associates will remain in Artakh or will find a door to leave Arstakh packing - “Ա. Յարութիւնեան եւ գործակիցներ պիտի մնա՞ն Արցախ, թէ դուռ մը պիտի գտնեն հեռանալու անկէ….

Arayik Harutunyan noted that he will be staying in his birthplace. He was on the front line in Artsakh but not in Los Angeles.

In this modern age, we are indeed witnessing the unraveling of the tumultuous Republic of Mountainous Karabakh / Artsakh, regrettably to the apparent rejoicing of the misconstrued.