Vazgen Sargsyan §

Vazgen Sargsyan was the central military-political figure of post-Soviet Armenia before his assassination in 1999. A writer turned militia organiser, he helped build the volunteer detachments that became the Armenian army during the First Karabakh War and later founded the Yerkrapah veterans network. As defence minister he embodied the victory generation and became one of the key officials who rejected Levon Ter-Petrosyan's phased settlement approach in 1997, helping force the president's resignation. In 1999 he allied with Karen Demirchyan and became prime minister after their bloc won parliamentary elections, creating a power centre outside President Kocharyan's direct control. His murder in the parliament shooting removed the most influential war-veteran politician and left Armenian politics more dependent on the Kocharyan-Sargsyan security elite.