Robert Sedraki Kocharyan 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 President of Armenia between 1998 and 2008 and as Prime Minister of Armenia from 1997 to 1998.
Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh or the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory was internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan. Between 1991 and 2023, Artsakh controlled parts of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, including its capital Stepanakert. It had been an enclave within Azerbaijan from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war until the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive, when the Azerbaijani military took control over the remaining territory controlled by Artsakh. Its only overland access route to Armenia after the 2020 war was via the 5 km (3.1 mi) wide Lachin corridor, which was placed under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces.
Politics of Artsakh took place within the constraints of a written constitution, approved by a popular vote, that recognises three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch of government was exercised within a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Artsakh was both the head of state and the head of government. The legislative branch of government was composed of both the Government and the National Assembly. Elections to the National Assembly were on the basis of a multi-party system. The republic was de facto independent and de jure a part of Azerbaijan. None of the elections in Artsakh were recognised by international bodies such as the OSCE Minsk Group, the European Union or the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Both Azerbaijan and Turkey had condemned the elections and called them a source of increased tensions.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh was the legislative branch of the government of the former Republic of Artsakh.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The Nagorno-Karabakh region was entirely claimed by and partially controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, but was recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan gradually re-established control over Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts.
The prime minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was the head of government of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between 1992 and 2017.
The president of the Republic of Artsakh was the head of state and head of government of the de facto Republic of Artsakh.
The Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, also commonly and colloquially known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States, rarely as CIS-2, is an international organization in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus of three breakaway states in the territory of the former Soviet Union, all of which have limited to no recognition from the international community.
The Republic of Artsakh was a republic with limited recognition in the South Caucasus region. The Republic of Artsakh controlled most of the territory of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It was recognized only by three other non-UN member states, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. The rest of the international community recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. In November 2012, a member of Uruguay's foreign relations committee stated that his country could recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's independence. In 2012, Armenia and Tuvalu established diplomatic relations, which led to speculation of possible recognition of Artsakh by Tuvalu. In October 2012, the Australian state of New South Wales recognized Nagorno-Karabakh. In September 2014, the Basque Parliament in Spain adopted a motion supporting Artsakh's right to self-determination and in November 2014, the Parliament of Navarre, also in Spain, issued a statement supporting Artsakh's inclusion in taking part in settlement negotiations.
Seyran Musheghi Ohanyan is an Armenian general and politician currently serving as a deputy in the National Assembly of Armenia. He served as Defence Minister of Armenia from 14 April 2008 until 3 October 2016. A native of Nagorno-Karabakh, he participated in both the first and second Karabakh wars, and from 2000 to 2007 served as defence minister of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh.
Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan is an Armenian politician who served as the fourth president of the Republic of Artsakh from May 2020 to September 2023. Under his predecessor Bako Sahakyan, he served as the sixth and last Prime Minister from 2007 until the abolishment of that position in 2017 and as the first State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh from 2017 until his resignation in 2018. Harutyunyan led Artsakh through the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan, during which the republic lost most of the territory under its control. He resigned on 1 September 2023 in the midst of the Azerbaijani blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Before the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the economy of the Republic of Artsakh was small, but rapidly growing. The economy of Karabakh showed a relatively quick and confident recovery from the 1991-1994 war. In 1999, the GDP figure was $59 million, 80 percent down on the figure in Soviet times. Yet, the GDP of the Republic of Artsakh reached $114 million in 2005, double the figure in 2001, registering economic growth of 14% in 2005, and in 2009 it registered a GDP of $260 million, which increased to $320 million by 2010. Nagorno-Karabakh's GDP (PPP) for 2010 was estimated at $1.6 billion.
The president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh was the speaker of the House in the Parliament of Artsakh.
The political status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained unresolved from its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union on 10 December 1991, to its September 2023 collapse. During Soviet times, it had been an ethnic Armenian autonomous oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a conflict arose between local Armenians who sought to have Nagorno-Karabakh join Armenia and local Azerbaijanis who opposed this.
General elections were held in the Republic of Artsakh on 31 March 2020, with a second round of the presidential election on 14 April. Voters elected the President and 33 members of the National Assembly. It was the first time the President and National Assembly were elected at the same time.
Government of the Republic of Artsakh was the executive branch of the government of the Republic of Artsakh. The executive council of government ministers is headed by the President of Artsakh. The 2017 constitutional referendum approved the transformation of the government into a presidential system; the office of the Prime Minister was thereby abolished.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Artsakh also known as the Ministry of the Interior was an official government agency of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, serving as the executive law enforcement body in the state. It follows an organization similar to that of the Police of Armenia. Following an Azerbaijani assault on 19 September 2023, Artsakh agreed to dissolve itself by 1 January 2024.
Events of the year 2023 in Armenia.
This is a list of individuals and events related to Azerbaijan in 2023.
Samvel Sergeyi Shahramanyan is an Armenian politician who served as the 5th and final president of the Republic of Artsakh, from 10 September 2023 to 1 January 2024. He was also State Minister from August to September 2023. He also served as Minister of Military Patriotic Upbringing, Youth, Sports and Tourism, Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh and a Major General in the Artsakh Defence Army.
