Artur Mkrtchyan

Artur Aslani Mkrtchyan (; 16 February 1959 – 14 April 1992) was the first Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, who was elected on 7 January 1992. He made an important contribution to reinforcing the defensive capabilities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but was fatally shot under unclear circumstances in April 1992.

Biography Artur Mkrtchyan was born in 1959 in the village of Ukhtadzor in the Hadrut District of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. After graduating from the village secondary school in 1976, he entered the faculty of history at Yerevan State University. While an initial report by the NKR's interior minister, Armen Isagulov, stated that Mkrtchyan had been killed by unknown "gunmen," a later official report described his death as accidental. In 2019, former commander of the NKR's army, Samvel Babayan, claimed that Mkrtchyan's death was a suicide․ No one has ever been prosecuted in connection with his death. He was succeeded by Georgy Petrosyan as acting chairman of the Supreme Council.

Mkrtchyan had two children. In 2020, Mkrtchyan was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Artsakh.