Vazgen Sargsyan (5 March 1959 – 27 October 1999) was an Armenian politician and general who served as Prime Minister from 11 June to 27 October 1999 (succeeding Armen Darbinyan and preceding Aram Sargsyan) and twice as Defense Minsiter, from 1991 to 1992 and from 1995 to 1999.
Biography[]
Vazgen Sargsyan was born on 5 March 1959 in Ararat, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union, and he led the Komsomol's Ararat Cement Factory chapter from 1983 to 1986. In 1985, he became a member of the Writers Union of Armenia, and he became an Armenian nationalist, advocating the union of the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia. At the start of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, he led Armenian volunteer forces into battle with Azerbaijani troops, and President Levon Ter-Petrosyan appointed Sargsyan as Minister of Defense. From 1991 to 1994, he led Armenian troops on the battlefield, and he became a military strongman after the end of the war. He forced President Ter-Petrosyan out of office in 1998 due to his support for conceding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, and he became Prime Minister of Armenia, having control over the military and the legislature. He would have become a dictator, had he not been assassinated on 27 October 1999 by ARF gunmen in an attack on the Armenian parliament.