Karen Serobovich Demirchyan
Карен Серобович Демирчян
1932–1999
✕ Assassinated in parliament shooting
Modernized Soviet Armenia over 14 years, sacked for siding with Karabakh, returned and assassinated in parliament
On 23 April 1975, Demirchyan became the first Soviet Armenian leader to officially condemn the organizers of the Armenian Genocide, mourning the victims in the republic's name.
Rising from the Yerevan Electrotechnical Factory as foreman, party secretary, chief engineer, and director, Demirchyan became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia in 1974 and led Soviet Armenia for fourteen years. His tenure saw the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, Yerevan Metro, and other modern infrastructure built. In 1975 he became the first Soviet Armenian leader to officially condemn the Armenian Genocide, and he secured Armenian as the state language in the 1978 Constitution. In 1988, after siding with protests demanding Nagorno-Karabakh's transfer to Armenia, Moscow removed him on health grounds. After the Soviet collapse he returned to politics, winning 40% in the 1998 presidential runoff and being elected Speaker in 1999, only to be assassinated in the parliament shooting alongside Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan that October.
Career Timeline
- 1954–1966Yerevan Electrotechnical Factory: engineer, party secretary, chief engineer, director
- 1959–1961Higher Party School, CPSU Central Committee, Moscow
- 1966–1972Secretary → First Secretary, Yerevan City Party Committee
- 1972–1974Secretary, CC of the Communist Party of Armenia
- 1974–1988First Secretary, CC of the Communist Party of Armenia; Chairman, Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR (1976–1988)
- 1976–1989Member, CPSU Central Committee
- 1991–1999General Director, ArmElektroMashina (Hayelectromekena) electrical equipment plant
- 1998–1999Founder and Chairman, People's Party of Armenia
- 1999President of the National Assembly, Republic of Armenia (June–October)