Seyran Ohanyan

Early life

Ohanyan was born in the town of Shusha, then in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR in the Soviet Union. In 1979, he completed high school in the village of Mrgashen, in the Nairi district of the Armenian SSR (now located in the Kotayk province of Armenia).^[1]

Soviet military career and Karabakh war

Ohanyan attended the Baku Higher Joint Command College and completed his studies there in 1983. He subsequently served with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, first as a platoon commander and from March 1987 as a company commander. In June 1988 he was transferred to the Transcaucasian Military District's 23rd Motor-Rifle Division based in Kirovabad, Azerbaijan and was appointed motor-rifle company commander of the 366th Motor Rifle Regiment based in Stepanakert; he became deputy battalion commander in August 1989 and 2nd battalion commander within the same regiment in September 1990.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the 366th regiment was pulled out of Stepanakert in March 1992 and Ohanyan joined Nagorno-Karabakh's newly formed army, playing a major role in the First Nagorno-Karabakh war against Azerbaijan.^[1] In May 1992, Ohanyan participated in the capture of his hometown of Shushi, one of the most significant victories achieved by the Armenian side. He led a force of 400 men against the fortified town from the southwestern direction.^[2] He was seriously wounded in action near Chldran, Martakert district in September 1992, with his leg amputated as a result. Following treatment, Ohanyan rejoined the military.

Military career (1994–2007)

After the war, he served as deputy commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army from 1994 to 1998, commander of Armenia's 5th Army Corps from 1998 to 1999 and Defence Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1999 to 2007. Ohanyan was promoted to major general in 1995, lieutenant general in 2000 and colonel general in 2007.

In May 2007, Ohanyan was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defence of Armenia.

Defence minister

After Serzh Sargsyan took office as President of Armenia, he appointed Ohanyan as Minister of Defence on 14 April 2008.^[3][4] During Ohanyan's time as Defence Minister, Armenian forces fought with Azerbaijan in the Four-Day War of April 2016, which was the worst outbreak of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 1994 ceasefire and before the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. He was dismissed from his post in October 2016.

Opposition politician (2017)

In February 2017, Ohanyan formed a political coalition with opposition politicians Vartan Oskanian and Raffi Hovannisian and their respective political parties to participate in the 2017 Armenian parliamentary election. The "Ohanian-Raffi-Oskanian" alliance received 32,508 votes in the 2017 election, failing to reach the 5 percent threshold required to enter parliament.^[5]

In 2019 and 2020, Ohanyan was called several times to answer the questions of the Armenian parliament's investigative committee on the Four-Day War.^[6]

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and aftermath

Ohanyan went to Nagorno-Karabakh to command Armenian forces after the start of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War in September 2020. Although Armenian and Artsakh authorities reported that Ohanyan commanded Armenian forces during the four-day battle for Shusha (which ended in the capture of the town by Azerbaijani forces),^[7][8][9] Ohanyan himself later denied this, stating that he only led a detachment of 16 men during the battle.^[10] The Azerbaijani Army claimed that they had wounded Ohanyan during the battle, a claim which was denied by the spokesperson of the President of Artsakh.^[11] On 11 November, the Baku Military Court initiated a criminal case against him in absentia with the charge of "genocide". Azerbaijan's Ministry of Internal Affairs also put him on their international wanted list.^[12][13]

After the end of the war, Ohanyan joined a number of officials in calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, saying that "the independence of the Republic of Armenia, the inviolability of its borders, and the physical existence of the population are endangered" should he not leave.^[14]

2021 Armenian parliamentary election

On 5 February 2021, Ohanyan announced his intention to participate in potential snap elections.^[15] He participated in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary election as a member of the Armenia Alliance, an electoral coalition led by ex-president Robert Kocharyan.^[16] Ohanyan currently leads the Armenia Alliance's parliamentary bloc in the National Assembly of Armenia.^[17]