Monte Melkonian

Monte Melkonian was an Armenian-American revolutionary and left-wing nationalist militant. He was the leader of an offshoot of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in the 1980s and was a commander in the Armenian army in Nagorno-Karabakh fighting Azerbaijan during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the early 1990s.

Melkonian left the United States and arrived in Iran in 1978 during the beginning of the 1979 Revolution, taking part in demonstrations against the Shah. Following the collapse of the Shah's monarchy, he traveled to Lebanon during the height of the civil war and served in an Armenian militia group in the Beirut suburb of Bourj Hammoud. In ASALA, he took part in the assassinations of several Turkish diplomats in Europe during the early to mid-1980s. He was one of the planners of the 1981 Turkish consulate attack in Paris. He was later arrested and sent to prison in France. In 1989, he was released and in the following year, acquired a visa to travel to Armenia.

Melkonian had no prior service record in any country's army before being placed in command of an estimated 4,000 men in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. He had largely built his military experience beginning from the late 1970s and 1980s, when he fought in Lebanon with ASALA. Melkonian fought against various factions in the Lebanese Civil War and against the IDF in the 1982 war.

Monte Melkonian carried several aliases over his career and was known as Avo to the troops under his command in Nagorno-Karabakh. The last years of his life were spent fighting with the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. Monte was killed by Azerbaijani soldiers while surveying the village of Merzili with five of his comrades in the aftermath of battle.He was buried at Yerablur cemetery in Yerevan and declared a National Hero of Armenia in 1996.

The life of Armenian and Artsakh national hero Monte Melkonian was full of hardships, including years of wandering and even prison. However, as he said, he had two loves that helped him move forward: love for homeland and love for Seda.