Nikol Pashinyan §

Born in Ijevan, Tavush, on 1 June 1975; founded the opposition daily "Haykakan Zhamanak" (Armenian Times) in 1999 and ran it through several criminal cases brought by the Kocharyan and Sargsyan administrations. Active in the post-1 March 2008 opposition, he was sentenced in 2010 to seven years for his role in the 2008 protests and amnestied in 2011. Elected to the National Assembly with the Yelk alliance in 2017; founded Civil Contract in 2013 and the "My Step" parliamentary alliance in 2018. Led the 13 April – 8 May 2018 "Velvet Revolution", a sustained civil-disobedience campaign against Sargsyan's attempt to extend rule as Prime Minister, and was elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly on 8 May 2018. Lost the September–November 2020 Karabakh war and signed the 9 November 2020 trilateral ceasefire with Putin and Aliyev; nonetheless won the snap parliamentary election of June 2021 with 53.9%. Has formally recognised that "Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan" (Prague, October 2022; Brussels, May 2023), reorienting Armenian foreign policy away from CSTO toward EU and bilateral Western frameworks.