Vazgen Sargsyan

Rare Monte Melkonian Interview Part 1

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• published: 02 Apr 2009
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Monte Melkonian was born in California and educated at Berkely. He was a trained archaeologist who spoke eight languages. Turning down scholarships for graduate study at prestigious universities, he devoted the rest of his life to defending the underprivileged and voiceless. After graduating from U.C. Berkeley in the spring of 1978, Monte traveled to Iran, where he taught English and participated in the movement to overthrow the Shah. Later, he found his way to Iranian Kurdistan, where Kurdish partisans made a deep impression on him. In the fall of 1978, Monte made his way to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, in time to participate in the defense of the Armenian quarter against by the right-wing Phalange forces. In the spring of 1980, Monte was inducted into the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenian, ASALA, and secretly relocated to West Beirut. In ASALA, he took part in the assassinations of several Turkish diplomats in Europe during the early to mid-1980s for denying Armenian Genocide and was later arrested and sent to prison in France. In 1989, he was released and in the following year. Monte then found his way to what was then still Soviet Armenia. In the early 1990's, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan turned into armed conflict over the region of Karabakh. Under these circumstances, it quickly became clear to Monte that if we lose Karabagh, as he stated, we turn the final page of our peoples history. He believed that, if Azeri forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabagh, they would advance on Zangezur and other regions of Armenia. Thus, he saw the fate of Karabagh as crucial for the long-term security of the entire Armenian nation. Monte moved to Karabakh and played an outstanding role in reorganizing the small groups of Armenian fighters into an effective and disciplined force. In April 1993, Melkonian was one of the chief military strategists who planned and led the operation to capture the region of Kalbajar, which lies between the Republic of Armenia and Karabagh. Armenian forces captured the region in four days of heavy fighting, sustaining far fewer fatalities than the enemy. His skills were impressive, thus he was almost immediately given a role of leadership in the Martuni area by Vazgen Sargsyan. Melkonian had no prior service record in any country's army before being placed in command of an estimated 4,000 men in the war. He is largely credited for major military victories against Azerbaijan from the late autumn of 1992 to his death in June 1993. Monte left a legacy that benefited Armenians of the whole world.