Vazgen Sargsyan

Who was Vazgen Sargsyan?

Vazgen Sargsyan was an Armenian military commander and politician. He joined the movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia in the late 1980s and led the Armenian volunteers during the early clashes with the Azerbaijanis. Sargsyan became the head of the Defence Committee of the Armenian parliament in 1990 and soon after Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in September 1991, he was appointed Defence Minister of Armenia by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Sargsyan was the main commander of the Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, which escalated into a full-scale war by 1992. In August 1992, Sargsyan organized a volunteer battalion which turned the course of the war in favor of the Armenian side. From 1992 to 1995 he served in different positions responsible for regulating the military operations in the war area. A ceasefire was reached in 1994, ending the war with an Armenian victory and de facto unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

From 1995 to 1999 Sargsyan served as Defence Minister, finishing the establishment of the Armed Forces of Armenia. He continuously supported President Ter-Petrosyan to retain power by using his influence in elections and suppression of opposition. However, this changed in February 1998 when Sargsyan forced Ter-Petrosyan out of his office due to disagreements around the settlement policies over Nagorno-Karabakh. With Sargsyan's support, Robert Kocharyan was elected president in March 1998. Their relations soon deteriorated and by early 1999, Vazgen Sargsyan merged Yerkrapah, the prominent group of the Nagorno-Karabakh war veterans, into the Republican Party of Armenia to form a political base in the parliament. Sargsyan then joined Armenia's former Soviet leader Karen Demirchyan forming an alliance prior to the parliamentary election. Their Unity bloc and its sympathizers won majority to the National Assembly in May 30, 1999 election. Sargsyan became the Prime Minister, emerging as the de facto decision-maker in Armenia, more powerful than President Kocharyan.