Robert Kocharyan

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Robert Kocharyan (2006)
Signature of Robert Kocharyan

Robert Sedraki Kotscharjan ( Armenian Ռոբերտ Սեդրակի Քոչարյան , English Robert Sedraki Kocharyan , scientific transliteration Ṙobert K'oč'aryan; born August 31, 1954 in Stepanakert , Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , Azerbaijani SSR , Soviet Union ) is a former President and former Prime Minister of Armenia and of Nagorno-Karabakh .

career

From 1972 to 1974 he did his military service in the Soviet Army . In 1981 he finished his electrical engineering studies at the Engineering University of Yerevan . In 1992 he was elected Prime Minister of the internationally unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh , in whose army he had previously served as a general. In 1994 he took up the newly created office of President Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1997, the non-party Kocharyan became Prime Minister of Armenia. In 1998 he won the early elections for Armenian President. His re-election in 2003 was accompanied by irregularities. Since the Armenian constitution does not provide for a third term, he left office on April 9, 2008. The previous Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was sworn in as his successor . It was speculated by parts of the opposition and some media that Kocharyan would inherit from him as head of government, following the Russian model, and that a "change of office" would take place. However, the new president appointed Tigran Sargsyan , the previous chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia , as the new head of government.

In an interview, Kocharyan stated that he no longer wanted to take part in political events in Armenia. He expressed his concerns about the constitutional referendum of 2015, which, in his view and against the background of the growing tendency to buy votes in the elections, could have lasting negative consequences for the electoral system in Armenia.

Legal review of the term of office

On July 27, 2018, at the request of the Armenian Special Investigation Service, a court ordered Kocharyan to be taken into custody. He is accused of manipulating the presidential election of February 2008 in favor of his former ally, Serzh Sargsyan , who would later be the winner . Like Kocharyan, he comes from Nagorno-Karabakh. Both were political leaders at the time of the Chodjali massacre in 1992 and take a tough nationalist position in the dispute over the enclave. Kocharyan describes the accusation as constructed and politically motivated. However, he is believed to be responsible for the gunfire at demonstrators during the March 1, 2008 election rigging protests, which killed several people. He is also associated with the massacre in the Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999, in which Prime Minister Wasken Sarkissjan and Parliament President Karen Demirchyan and five other people were killed by unknown persons in parliament.

In November 2018, the Armenian entrepreneur Silwa Ambarzumjan claimed at a press conference that she had paid a bribe to Kocharyan in the crisis year 2008. In return, the former president is said to have given his blessing for the conclusion of a business contract with an Arab company. As a result, the Special Investigation Service of Armenia brought a new charge against Kocharyan for bribery in February 2019. The latter denied the allegations and filed a lawsuit against Ambarzumjan for defamation.

Kocharyan was released from the courtroom in May 2019 after Bako Sahakjan and Arkadi Ghukassjan (current and former president of the internationally unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) assured the judge that Kocharyan would "behave appropriately" after his release. As a protest against this decision, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on his supporters to block all courthouses in Yerevan .

Attitude to the Karabakh conflict

During an appearance in front of students at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in January 2003, Kocharyan described it as impossible that Armenians could ever live in Azerbaijan again. The events of the late 1980s and early 1990s showed that Armenians and Azerbaijanis were "ethnically incompatible".

Private

Kocharyan is married and has three children.

Web links

Commons : Robert Kocharyan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10809006&CFID=2267409&CFTOKEN=83749174
  2. ↑ Sputnik: Роберт Кочарян не желает участвовать в политических процессах Армении. Retrieved November 5, 2017 (Russian).
  3. ^ Election manipulation: Armenia's ex-President Kocharyan arrested. In: Spiegel Online . July 28, 2018, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Jean Gueyras: Two criminals and a sorcerer. In: Le monde diplomatique , German edition, April 11, 2008.
  5. ↑ Роберту Кочаряну предъявлено новое обвинение. In: Sputnik Armenia. February 12, 2019, Retrieved May 26, 2019 (Russian).
  6. ↑ Kocharyan free, Pashinyan angry: The situation in Armenia is tense. In: Caucasuswatch.de. May 21, 2019, accessed on May 26, 2019 (German).
  7. ↑ Armenia's Azeris 'Ethnically Incompatible'. In: Asbarez.com. January 16, 2003, accessed June 7, 2019 .
  8. ↑ http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2006/07/294848FA-69F9-4018-828E-A35A7262FB3C.ASP
personal data
SURNAME Kocharyan, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kocharyan, Robert Sedraki; Քոչարյան, Ռոբերտ Սեդրակի (Armenian); Kocharyan, Robert Sedraki (English); K'oč'aryan, Ṙobert (transliteration)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Armenian politician, President of Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Stepanakert , Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast , Azerbaijani SSR , Soviet Union