Samvel Sergeyi Shahramanyan ( hy, Սամվել Սերգեյի Շահրամանյան; born 1 December 1978) is an Armenian politician serving since 10 September 2023 as the 5th and final president of the

Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (),, is a list of states with limited recognition, breakaway state in the South Caucasus whose territory is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan ...

, to be dissolved on 1 January 2024. He was also

State Minister Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

from August to September 2023. He also served as Minister of Military Patriotic Upbringing, Youth, Sports and Tourism, Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh and a Major General in the

Artsakh Defence Army The Artsakh Defence Army ( hy, Արցախի Հանրապետության պաշտպանության բանակ, Artsakhi Hanrapetut’yan pashtpanut’yan banak) is the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Est ...

Early life and career

Shahramanyan was born in

Stepanakert / az, Xankəndi, italic=no , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = File:StepanakertCollage.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = From top left: Holy Mother ...

on 1 December 1978, in what was then the

Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...

. He graduated in 1999 from the economics department of the

Artsakh University Artsakh State University is the oldest and largest university in the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. Over the course of its 50-year history, Artsakh State University has produced over 20,000 graduates in 60 fields of study. Currently, the u ...

. From 1996 and 1999, he served in the

Artsakh Defense Army The Artsakh Defence Army ( hy, Արցախի Հանրապետության պաշտպանության բանակ, Artsakhi Hanrapetut’yan pashtpanut’yan banak) is the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Est ...

and then moved to the Artsakh National Security Service, of which he was director between 2018 and 2020 upon appointment by President

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan ( hy, Բակո Սահակի Սահակյան; born 30 August 1960) is an Artsakhi politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving p ...

Political career

Ministerial positions in Artsakh

In May 2020, Shahramanyan was appointed by President

Arayik Harutyunyan Arayik Vladimiri Harutyunyan ( hy, Արայիկ Վլադիմիրի Հարությունյան; born 14 December 1973) is an Armenian politician who has been serving as the President of Artsakh since 2020. He was formerly the 1st State Minister fr ...

as Minister of Military Patriotic Upbringing, Youth, Sports and Tourism as part of the latter's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. On 29 August 2023, Harutyunyan stated that he was considering resigning and going to serve in Artsakh's militia. On 31 August, Harutyunyan announced his resignation as president of the Republic of Artsakh along with

Gurgen Nersisyan. Before his resignation, in his final decree, Harutyunyan appointed Shahramanyan as the new State Minister, giving him broad powers.

2023 election

On 6 September 2023, it became known that three opposition parliamentary factions (

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

and

Democratic Party of Artsakh The Democratic Party of Artsakh ( hy, Արցախի ժողովրդավարական կուսակցություն; DPA, ''ԱԺԿ'') is a political party in the Republic of Artsakh. It was founded on 30 January 2005. Before that, in 2000–2005 ther ...

) nominated Shahramanyan as their presidential candidate. Later Shahramanyan's candidacy was supported by the largest faction of the Parliament, Free Motherland-UCA. In the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

held on 9 September, Shahramanyan, who was the sole candidate, was elected in a 22–1 vote out of 23 deputies present.

Azerbaijani offensive, exodus and dissolution of Artsakh

Nine days after Shahramanyan was sworn in, Azerbaijan launched a

military offensive An offensive is a military operation that seeks through an aggressive projection of armed forces to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational, or tactical goal. Another term for an offensive often used by t ...

against Artsakh. The following day, the Artsakhi government reached a

ceasefire agreement A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

and agreed to disarm. On 24 September, a mass evacuation of ethnic-Armenian civilians began, citing fears of persecution and

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

if they remain. On 28 September, Shahramanyan signed a decree stating that all state institutions would be dissolved by 1 January 2024, bringing the existence of the republic of Artsakh to an end. On 4 October, it was reported that Shahramanyan had left Artsakh for Armenia. He was spotted in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

on 16 October.

Personal life

Shahramanyan is married and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahramanyan, Samvel 1978 births Living people People from Stepanakert Presidents of the Republic of Artsakh State Ministers of the Republic of Artsakh Artsakh military personnel Artsakh University alumni