Ashot Tsolaki Navasardyan (; March 28, 1950 – November 3, 1997) was an Armenian politician and military commander who founded the

Republican Party of Armenia The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA, hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետական Կուսակցություն, ՀՀԿ; ''Hayastani Hanrapetakan Kusaktsutyun'', ''HHK'') is a national-conservative political party in Armenia led by the thir ...

. Navasardyan was born in

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

and graduated from the Faculty of Law of

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; hy, Երևանի Պետական Համալսարան, ԵՊՀ, ''Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran''), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919 ...

. From 1968 to 1990, he was a member of the underground National Unity Party and its successor, the

Union for National Self-Determination Union for National Self-Determination ( hy, Ազգային ինքնորոշում միավորում; ''Azgayin ink’noroshum miavorum'') is an Armenian political party. It was founded in 1987 by Paruyr Hayrikyan, a Soviet dissident seeking indep ...

, which sought to achieve Armenia's secession from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He was imprisoned several times by the Soviet authorities for his dissident activities, serving a total of 12 years in prisons. Navasardyan was an advocate of the ideas of the Armenian military leader and nationalist thinker

Garegin Nzhdeh Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, better known by his '' nom de guerre'' Garegin Nzhdeh ( hy, Գարեգին Նժդեհ, ; 1 January 1886 – 21 December 1955), was an Armenian statesman, military commander and political thinker. As a member of the A ...

.Ashot Navasardyan would be 59, Aysor, March 28, 2009
/ref> With the rise of the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement ( hy, Ղարաբաղյան շարժում, also the Artsakh movement Արցախյան շարժում) was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the ma ...

and the Armenian independence movement, he and other members of the Union for National Self-Determination founded the

Army of Independence The Army of Independence () was an Armenian armed group that was active in the period leading up to Armenia becoming an independent state in 1991. It was founded in late 1989 by members of the Union for National Self-Determination, including Ashot ...

, an armed group that engaged in violent clashes with Soviet authorities in Armenia and with Azerbaijani forces on the border with Azerbaijan and in Nagorno-Karabakh during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Navasardyan was elected the supreme commander of the Army of Independence. In 1990, he founded the Republican Party of Armenia, which he led until his death. He was elected to the Supreme Soviet of Armenia in the 1990 elections and to the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Ազգային ժողով, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also infor ...

in the 1995 parliamentary elections. Navasardyan died from a heart attack on November 3, 1997. He is buried at

Yerablur Yerablur ( hy, Եռաբլուր, translation=based on three hills) or Yerablur Military Pantheon is a military cemetery located on a hilltop in the outskirts of Yerevan, Armenia. Since 1988, Yerablur has become the burial place of Armenian soldie ...

military cemetery.

References

Ashot NAVASSARDIAN
at the National Assembly of Armenia Website 1950 births 1997 deaths Armenian nationalists Armenian modern pagans Armenian dissidents Republican Party of Armenia politicians Members of the National Assembly (Armenia) {{Armenia-politician-stub