Monte Melkonian

National Hero of Armenia

Monte Melkonian
Melkonian in the town of Martuni during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, January 1993
Native name
Մոնթէ Մելքոնեան
Nickname(s)Avo (Աւօ)
Born(1957-11-25)25 November 1957
Visalia, California, United States
Died12 June 1993(1993-06-12) (aged 35)
Mərzili, Aghdam, Azerbaijan
Buried
Yerablur, Armenia
AllegianceASALA (1980–1988)
Artsakh (1988–1993)
Years of service1978–1993
Battles / wars
Awards National Hero of Armenia (1996)
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1991⁠–⁠1993)​
RelationsMarkar Melkonian (brother)
Other workThe Right to Struggle: Selected Writings of Monte Melkonian on the Armenian National Question (1993)[a]

Monte Melkonian (Armenian: Մոնթէ Մելքոնեան;[b] 25 November 1957 – 12 June 1993) was an Armenian-American revolutionary[1] and left-wing nationalist militant. He was a commander in the Artsakh Defence Army and was killed while fighting against Azerbaijan in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.[2]

Born in California, Melkonian left the United States and arrived in Iran as a teacher in 1978, amidst the Iranian Revolution. He took part in demonstrations against Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and subsequently travelled to Lebanon to serve with a Beirut-based Armenian militia fighting in the Lebanese Civil War. Melkonian was active in Bourj Hammoud, and was one of the planners of the Turkish consulate attack in Paris in 1981.[3] He was later arrested and imprisoned in France. He was released in 1989 and acquired a visa to travel to Armenia in 1990.

Prior to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which he commanded an estimated 4,000 Armenian troops, Melkonian had no official service record in any country's armed forces.[4] Instead, his military experience came from his activity in ASALA during the Lebanese Civil War. With ASALA, Melkonian fought against various right-wing Lebanese militias in and around Beirut, and had also taken part in combat against Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.

Over the course of his military career, Melkonian had adopted a number of aliases, including "Abu Sindi," "Timothy Sean McCormack," and "Saro."[5] During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, many of the Armenian soldiers under his command referred to him as Avo (Աւօ). On 12 June 1993, Melkonian was killed by Azerbaijani soldiers while he was surveying the village of Mərzili with five other Armenian soldiers after a battle.[6] He was buried at Yerablur, a military cemetery in the capital city of Armenia Yerevan, and was posthumously conferred the title of National Hero of Armenia in 1996.[7]


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  1. ^ Vorbach 1994.
  2. ^ de Waal 2013, p. 341.
  3. ^ Dugan, Laura; Huang, Julie Y.; LaFree, Gary; McCauley, Clark (2008). "Sudden desistance from terrorism: The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia and the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide" (PDF). Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict. 1 (3): 237. doi:10.1080/17467580902838227. S2CID 54799538. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. ^ Melkonian 2005, p. x.
  5. ^ Melkonian, Markar (2007). My brother's road : an American's fateful journey to Armenia. Seta Kabranian-Melkonian. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. x, 181, 279. ISBN 978-1-84511-530-2. OCLC 123114551.
  6. ^ Melkonian 2005, p. 264.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference National Hero was invoked but never defined (see the help page).