Kocharian, Robert Sedraki
Kocharian or Kocharyan, Robert Sedraki,
1954–, Armenian political leader. He served (1972–74) in the Soviet army and worked as a mechanical engineer (1977–81) before graduating (1982) from the Yerevan Polytechnic Inst. A native of the ethnically Armenian region of Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh, region (1990 pop. 192,000), 1,699 sq mi (4,400 sq km), SE Azerbaijan, between the Caucasus and the Karabakh range. Khankendi (the capital, formerly Stepanakert) and Shusha are the chief towns.
..... Click the link for more information. in Azerbaijan, he rose through the ranks of its Communist party. By the late 1980s, Kocharian had become a leader of the regional forces fighting to break away from Azerbaijan and incorporate Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia. After a ceasefire was declared in 1994, he became president of Nagorno-Karabakh, which subsequently became a de facto part of Armenia. Appointed Armenian prime minister in 1997, Kocharian was elected president of Armenia in 1998. He was reelected in 2003 in a runoff that observers said was tainted by fraud, and retired from office in 2008. In 2018 he was arrested, released, then re-arrested in connection with the 2008 crackdown on opposition protests following the election of his successor, Serzh SargsyanSargsyan or Sarkisyan, Serzh,
1954–, Armenian political leader, president (2008–18) and prime minister (2007–8, 2018) of Armenia, b. Nagorno-Karabakh.
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