Alexander Khatisian §

Born in Tiflis in 1874 to a wealthy Armenian merchant family; trained as a physician in Moscow and Kharkov and entered Tbilisi municipal politics, serving as mayor of Tbilisi 1910–17. Headed the Armenian National Council in 1917–18 and signed the 4 June 1918 Treaty of Batum on behalf of the new Republic. As Foreign Minister and then Prime Minister (August 1919 – May 1920) he led the Armenian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and signed the abortive Treaty of Sèvres (10 August 1920). Negotiated the Treaty of Alexandropol on 2 December 1920 with Mustafa Kemal's emissaries, already after the Bolshevik takeover of Yerevan, so the treaty was technically signed by a no-longer-existing government. Emigrated via Tbilisi to Paris, where he led ARF political work for two decades and wrote a foundational memoir of the Republic; died in Paris in 1945.