Vazgen Manukyan

Vazgen Mikayeli Manukyan (Armenian: Վազգեն Միքայելի Մանուկյան, born 13 February 1946) is an Armenian politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Armenia from 1990 to 1991.

Vazgen Manukyan was born in Leninakan (modern-day Gyumri) in 1946.

His family emigrated to Yerevan from the region of Moxoene during the Armenian genocide.

His father, Mikael Manuki Manukyan, was a doctor of sciences and a professor at Yerevan State University.

His mother, Astghik Hmayaki Hakobyan, was born in Gyumri and graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Yerevan State University.

Vazgen Manukyan attended Yerevan's Anton Chekhov School no. 55.

From 1963 to 1968 he studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Yerevan State University, then from 1966 to 1967 he continued his studies at Moscow State University, and conducted his postgraduate studies at the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1972.

He is a candidate of physics and mathematics, has the title of Docent, and has authored a number of scientific articles.

On April 24, 1967, he was forced to leave Moscow State University and return to Yerevan for participating in a protest in front of the Turkish Embassy in Moscow.

His wife, Varduhi Ishkhanyan, who is a mathematician by profession, is the daughter of well-known linguist and literary critic Rafael Ishkhanyan and linguist Byurakn Cheraz (whose father, Vahan Cheraz, was a famous Armenian athlete).

From 1972 to 1990 he lectured at Yerevan State University.

The first was a large environmental one, the second was a smaller one, mainly organized by dissidents who were released from prison in 1987.

The third movement, which aimed to unite Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, was the one that gained the most momentum.

Vazgen Manukyan was a co-founder and the coordinator of the Karabakh Committee (officially founded in February 1988), the body which led the Karabakh movement aimed at uniting Nagorno-Karabakh with Soviet Armenia.

He was arrested by Soviet authorities on December 10, 1988, along with other members of the Karabakh Committee, and spent 6 months in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

In 1988, three movements emerged in Armenia at the same time.

In February 1988, the Karabakh Committee was established and soon took leadership of the Karabakh movement.

Vazgen Manukyan was a founding member of the Karabakh Committee and became its coordinator in June 1988.

The members of the committee often met in Manukyan's apartment.

Under the leadership of Vazgen Manukyan the Karabakh movement transformed from being purely concerned with the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia into a broader national-democratic movement, eventually raising the question of independence.

In May 1988, political and ideological differences emerged among the leaders of the movement.

Some wanted to focus only on the Karabakh issue and thought that no other issues should be raised.

He was elected the first chairman of the Pan-Armenian National Movement in October 1989.

He was also a member of Armenia's parliament from 1990 to 2007.

From 1990 to 1991, he served as the Prime Minister of Armenia.

On September 26, 1991, Vazgen Manukyan resigned as prime minister and founded his own party, the National Democratic Union (NDU), and has since served as its chairman.

From 1992 to 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Manukyan was acting Defence Minister of Armenia.

In September 1992, he was appointed Minister of State and Minister of Defense, while managing the military–industrial complex of Armenia at the same time.

Under Vazgen Manukyan, the Armenian Armed Forces were formed, the course of the war changed in favor of the Armenian side.

He was dismissed from his post in August 1993.

In the 1996 Armenian presidential elections, Vazgen Manukyan received the support of the major opposition parties and was the main challenger to incumbent President Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

The 1996 elections were marred by widespread electoral fraud in favor of President Ter-Petrosyan.

According to the official results, Manukyan received 41% of the votes, losing to Ter-Petrosyan without a runoff election.

The opposition disputed the results of the elections and major protests broke out in Yerevan, which were suppressed by the police and military.

Vazgen Manukyan lost further presidential elections in 1998, 2003 and 2008.

From March 2009 to December 2019, he was the Chairman of the Public Council of Armenia.

Since 2019, he has been the President of the Vernatun Socio-Political Club.

In the aftermath of the defeat of the Armenian side in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and the signing of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement, a wave of protests broke out in Armenia demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

On 3 December 2020, a coalition of 17 parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political parties formed the Homeland Salvation Movement and nominated Vazgen Manukyan as their joint candidate for the position of prime minister and to form a transitional government.

Ultimately, neither Vazgen Manukyan nor the Homeland Salvation Movement participated in the 2021 parliamentary elections.