The last party first secretary who tilted Nagorno-Karabakh toward Armenia
From the rostrum of the USSR Supreme Soviet, July 1988: "The optimal solution in this situation would be to detach Karabakh from Azerbaijan. I see no alternative."
An Armenian party functionary born in Stepanakert in 1931, Poghosyan was appointed First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Party Committee on 24 February 1988, inheriting an explosive situation barely four days after the regional soviet voted to unify with Soviet Armenia. Within weeks he chaired a party plenum that formally petitioned Moscow to transfer Karabakh to Armenia, and in July he told the USSR Supreme Soviet from the rostrum that he saw no alternative to separating Karabakh from Azerbaijan. Moscow removed him in January 1989 and replaced the oblast leadership with Arkady Volsky's Special Administration Committee; Poghosyan retired to Moscow and died there in 2000.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- ~1987–1988.02Deputy Chairman, NKAO Executive Committee; Head of Agroprom
- 1988.02–1989.01First Secretary, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Party Committee
- 1989People's Deputy of the USSR (Stepanakert electoral district)
- 1989–2000Retired in Moscow
Related historical events
The Karabakh transfer campaign and Moscow’s rejection
On 24 February 1988, Genrikh Poghosyan was elected First Secretary of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast Party Committee, succeeding Boris Kevorkov. Four days earlier, the oblast’s Soviet of People’s Deputies had resolved to petition for the transfer of the region from the Azerbaijan SSR to the Armenian SSR. On 17 March, a party committee plenum chaired by Poghosyan approved the local soviet’s resolution. The regional party leadership thereby formally endorsed the transfer demand.
When the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet considered the issue on 18 July, Poghosyan argued that the autonomous oblast could not remain within Azerbaijan and that separation was the only solution. As quoted by the Soviet news agency TASS in a report published the next day, he described the region as an Armenian homeland inhabited by Armenians from time immemorial. The Presidium rejected the transfer demand, keeping Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan while promising “real autonomy” and social, economic, and cultural development. In January 1989, the Presidium established a Special Administration Committee led by Arkady Volsky and suspended the activities of the oblast party committee and soviet. This ended Poghosyan’s tenure as party leader.