Arkadi Ghukasyan

Arkadi Ghukasyan (Armenian: Արկադի Ղուկասյան, born 22 June 1957) was the second President of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. He was elected as the President on 8 September 1997 and re-elected in 2002, until his term ended on 7 September 2007 and was succeeded by Bako Sahakyan.

Arkadi Ghukasyan
Արկադի Ղուկասյան
2nd President of Nagorno-Karabakh
In office
8 September 1997  7 September 2007
Prime MinisterLeonard Petrosyan
Zhirayr Poghosyan
Anushavan Danielyan
Preceded byLeonard Petrosyan (acting)
Succeeded byBako Sahakyan
Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh
In office
23 July 1993  8 September 1997
PresidentRobert Kocharyan
Leonard Petrosyan
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byNaira Melkumian
Personal details
Born (1957-06-22) 22 June 1957
Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
Alma materYerevan State University

Born in Stepanakert, in the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Republic of the Azerbaijan SSR on 22 June 1957, he graduated in 1979 from Yerevan State University with a degree in linguistics. He started his working career as a correspondent for "Soviet Karabagh" newspaper, becoming its Deputy Editor-in-Chief in 1981.

In 1991 Ghukasyan was elected to the first Parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In September 1992, he was appointed Political Adviser to the Chairman of the State Defense Committee (SDC), and headed the NKR delegations during OSCE negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Ghukasyan has been a member of Nagorno-Karabakh's Security Council since 1993. On 23 July 1993 he became the first Foreign Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

He survived an assassination attempt in 2000. Samvel Babayan, whom he had recently sacked as defence minister, was convicted of organising the attack and sentenced to 14 years in prison.[1] Babayan was released from imprisonment on 18 September 2004 due to health concerns, with the terms of release including a probationary period and continued disenfranchisement.[2]

He has divorced once and remarried.

References

Preceded by
Leonard Petrosyan
President of Nagorno-Karabakh
19972007
Succeeded by
Bako Sahakyan
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.