Talk:Vazgen Manukyan

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Vazgen Mikaeli Manukyan (Armenian: Վազգեն Միքայելի Մանուկյան, born 13 February 1946) was the first Prime Minister of the third Republic of Armenia, and during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, from 1992 to 1993, Manukyan was the Defence Minister of Armenia.

He was co-founder and member of the Karabakh Committee since February 1988. Starting from June 1988 he was the coordinator of Karabakh Committee.. On December 10, 1988, he was arrested along with other members of the Karabakh Committee and spent 6 months in Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow. Vazgen Manukyan was co-founder and first Chairman of the Administrative Board of the Pan-Armenian National Movement (Armenian transliterated: Hayots Hamazgain Sharzhum). From 1990-1995 he was a Member of Parliament at the Supreme Council of Armenia, from 1995-2007 Member of Parliament at the National Assembly (Armenia).

From 1990 to 1991 he was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. On September 26, 1991, Vazgen Manukyan resigned as Prime Minister. In 1991 he initiated the establishment of the National Democratic Union party together with the active participants and supporters of the movement. In September 1992 he was appointed the Minister of State, thereafter the Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia, at the same time managing the State-Military Industrial Complex of the Republic of Armenia. During Vazgen Manukyan's governance time the regular Armenian army was formed, the course of the war changed, and when the Armenian side was constantly winning, in August 1993 he resigned. From 2008 to November 13, 2019 he has been the president of the Public Council of Armenia; a state body with a consulting role formed in 2008. . Vazgen Manukyan is the Chairman of National Democratic Union political party.and the President of "Vernatun" Social Political Club, established in 2019.

== Biography ==

=== Early Life ===

Vazgen Manukyan was born on February 13, 1946 in the Manukyan family that had emigrated from Moxoene to Yerevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Armenian Genocide. Father, Mikael Manukyan was a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and a Professor at Yerevan State University. Mother, Astghik Hakobyan, was born in Gyumri and graduated from the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Yerevan State University.

Vazgen Manukyan studied at the school after A. Chekhov (|Անտոն Չեխովի անվան թիվ 55 դպրոց). From 1963 to 1968 Vazgen Manukyan studied Mathematics and Physical science at Yerevan State University, from 1966 to 1967 he moved to Moscow State University to continue his study. He had to leave Moscow State University to return to Yerevan due to organizing demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy in Moscow on April 24, 1967 .From 1969 to 1972 he was a postgraduate student at the Novosibirsk Subsidiary of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. He holds a PhD in Physical and Mathematical sciences, he is an associate professor, an author of several scientific articles. From 1972 to 1990 he lectured at Yerevan State University.

=== Early political activity ===

Vazgen Manukyan started his political activity when he was a student. Until 1988 Vazgen Manukyan was co-founder and member of several political clubs.

In the 1960s a movement began in Armenia under which secret national organizations were formed, raising the issue of Armenian Genocide and other national issues. In 1967-68 Vazgen Manukyan and his friends founded the Armenian Culture Club at Moscow University, which, however, was not only cultural, but also carried out national activities under the name of culture. Later they set up a similar organization at Yerevan State University, again raising issues of independence, Artsakh, democracy and others under the name of Armenian culture.

On April 24, 1967, with a group of like-minded people he organized a demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, developing the scenario in advance, visiting Moscow universities and dormitories, finding Armenians by lists and informing about the demonstration.

On April 24 thousands of students gathered in front of the Embassy, holding hands and singing “Zartnir Lao” (“Wake up Lao”), after which the police came up, dragged them and tried to disperse the demonstration. But the demonstration had already taken place. This was the first successful demonstration after the unsuccessful attempts of previous years. Armenian students returned to dormitories excited to celebrate their victory. A few days later, the demonstration organizers, including Vazgen Manukyan, were expelled from the university.

While preparing for the demonstration, Vazgen Manukyan met Hamo Harutyunyan, the former Soviet ambassador to Canada and head of the foreign policy planning department at the Soviet Union Foreign Ministry, who was a highly respected and influential figure in Moscow politics. It can be said that he laid the foundation of Manukyan's political activity.

Their contact continued even after the demonstration in Moscow. Hamo Harutyunyan taught Manukyan and his friends the nuances of politics and diplomacy, from national politics to global processes, talked about the structure of states, their internal chemistry, how political decisions were made, and so on. Harutyunyan also introduced the young people to famous Armenians. ''“His house was a center for Armenians. For example, I met Silva Kaputikyan there. We met there many times and became close to Marshal Baghramyan. We also got acquainted with Marshal Babadzhanian, the former First Secretary Yakov Zarobyan, shortly said, the most influential people of the time”'', Manukyan recalls.

The other great ideological influence on the young people was by Karen Takhtajyan, who was a mathematician, his father was a well-known academician Leon Takhtajan in St. Petersburg. Karen Takhtajyan raised issues of national ideology, urging young people to read philosophy.''“It was under his influence that I first began to study Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Otto Weininger, Indian philosophy. And under the influence of Hamo Akimich, we began to study what is meant by a joint-stock company, the economy of the United States, that is, if we were an independent state, we would understand which way to go, etc.. All these guys later played a big role not only in founding various secret organizations in Armenia, but also during the 1988 movement”.''-Vazgen Manukyan.

In 1970's on request of Catholicos of All Armenians Vazgen I, Vazgen Manukyan and his friends carried out measures to save cultural values in the territories of Artsakh and Nakhchivan. They also rganized the rescue of Armenian children bombed in Beirut, and many other activities.

Feasts of the Translators (Armenian: Tarkmanchats Toner)

In 1974 Vazgen Manukyan and his supporters created an initiative called “Feasts of the Translators” (Armenian transliterated: Tarkmanchats Toner), which united the entire Armenian intelligentsia. The goal was to create a national club that would allow people to get to know each other, to communicate, to discuss issues in an informal atmosphere, to gain the like-minded and supporters in discussing these issues, so that the most influential intelligentsia could unite around the same ideas. For example, the issue of schools (Armenian or non-Armenian), Armenia-Russia relations, issues related to the Genocide, and sometimes even issues of freedom, independence, liberation from the communist regime were discussed.''“When the movement of 88 started, we realized how important those round-ups were and how significant they were. The intelligentsia immediately united, because people already knew each other, approached the matters in the same way, shared the same ideas. That was the greatest achievement of the “Feasts of the Translators”.''-Vazgen Manukyan.

== Karabakh Movement ==

In 1988 three political movements were organised in Armenia. First one was powerful environmental movement, the second one was not numerous, it was independence movement organised by dissidents who were released from prisons in 1987. The third and the most powerful one was Karabakh movement aiming to reunite Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) with  Armenia. In 1988, when the “Karabakh” Committee was formed to lead the Karabakh movement, Vazgen Manukyan was at the source of its formation. Since February 1988 he was a member of the “Karabakh” Committee and then – the Committee coordinator (since June 1988).

On July 5, 1988 just after the events of Zvartnots Airport Vazgen Manukyan, in his public speech at the Freedom Square of Yerevan, for the first time called for a nationwide strike.

On December 10, 1988, Vazgen Manukyan was arrested along with other members of the “Karabakh” Committee and spent 6 months in “Matroskaya Tishina” prison in Moscow.

The Karabakh movement was born as a national movement, the goals of which were very clear, but very quickly, from May 1988, from a purely national movement, it began to turn into a national-democratic movement. Some thought that there was only the Karabakh issue and no other issues should be raised. The other approach was that there are so many problems that it is impossible to advance the Karabakh issue and succeed without raising it.

Vazgen Manukyan was sure that the right path is the path toward independence and the movement step by step transformed into independence movement.

Upon the initiative of the “Karabakh” Committee, the “Armenian National Movement” (ANM) public-political organization was established, the founding administrative board of which consisted of almost all the members of the “Karabakh” committee. Vazgen Manukyan was elected the first chairman of the ANM Administrative Board.

== The first Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Armenia==

In May 1990 Vazgen Manukyan was elected as a Member of Parliament of the Supreme Council of Armenia. On August 13, 1990 he was appointed by the Supreme Council as the Chairman (Prime Minister) of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Armenia. That was a hard period for Armenia: the USSR was rapidly collapsing, the political and economic blockade of Armenia from the north began.

On the one hand, efforts were needed to slow down the collapse, on the other hand, it was necessary to move quickly to a new economic system. The government, which held the entire executive power (there was no presidency under the constitution, all executive power was given by the Supreme Council to the government) successfully implemented this complex program, having relations based on political trust with both the Soviet republics and other countries. The government headed by Vazgen Manukyan launched a number of systemic reforms which created a serious basis for further development of the country

On September 26, 1991, Vazgen Manukyan resigned as Prime Minister.

== National Democratic Union (NDU) ==

Gradually, in the opinion of opposition, many leaders of 1988 moved away from the declared principles and democratic values enshrined in the movement's program, continuously sacrificing that principles to the principles of “power for power”, and “power at all costs”. Part of the leadership of the nationwide movement, saw danger of that direction for Armenia and left the Pan-Armenian National Movement (ANM).

Tigran Sargsyan and Davit Vardanyan, who later with Vazgen Manukyan formed the National Democratic Union (NDU), raised the issue at one of the ANM meetings that the ongoing privatization deepens social injustice. There were many subjects for disagreements. The Karabakh committee members have different views on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, from the policy of "not an inch of land" to keeping the issue frozen. Ways to solve economic problems were not always acceptable. Former ideologues called Hrant Bagratyan's policies "wild liberalism" and criticized them.

After the formation of the “National Democrats” parliamentary group in the Supreme Council of Armenia, Vazgen Manukyan together with Davit Vardanyan, Arshak Sadoyan, Shavarsh Kocharyan, Ludvig Khachatryan, Tigran Sargsyan, Seyran Avagyan and other political figures initiated the establishment of the “National Democratic Union” (NDU) uniting the active participants and supporters of the movement. The NDU was created in 1991, and Vazgen Manukyan was elected the Chairman of the Board.

The NDU has been parliamentary group of the National Assembly of Armenia from 1995 to 2003

== The Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia during the war ==

In September 1992 Vazgen Manukyan was appointed the Minister of State, thereafter in October 1992 he was appointed the Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia at the same time managing the State-Military Industrial Complex of the Republic of Armenia. During that period the regular Army of the Republic of Armenia was finally formed, after many defeats the period of brilliant victories began.

In the summer of 1992 Nagorno Karabakh was experiencing a tragedy: within one month the Azerbaijani troops occupied Shahumyan and Martakert, about 50 percent of the areas controlled by the Armenian. It seemed like an effort was needed and the Karabakh conflict would be finally resolved. It was then that Vazgen Manukyan became the Defense Minister of Armenia, and the course of the war began to gradually change. With the active participation of Nortat Ter-Grigoryants, former Deputy Chief of Staff of the USSR Land Forces, a small but efficient army was formed. The Azeris' advance was halted in the autumn of 1992, and in the spring of 1993 the Armenians launched a counterattack and already in August defeated the main strike forces of the Azerbaijani army.

On May 28, 1993, the formation of the Armenian Army, of which the Artsakh Army was an integral part, was almost completed. Kalbajar was captured, Martakert was taken back, the backbone of the Azerbaijani army was broken, and the series of victories continued. A wave of great national enthusiasm arose, and the first official Military parade took place, which was hosted by the then Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan

=== Kapan operation ===

In the autumn-winter months of 1992 the situation on the country's borders was dire. Shahumyan and Martakert were in the hands of the enemy, Kichan, accordingly, Stepanakert and all of Karabakh were under constant threat. Passing through the Lachin corridor was extremely dangerous, sometimes impossible. The enemy was shelling the Armenian villages of Kapan region with different weapons, endangering the Kapan-Goris highway.

Since April 24, 1992, the border clashes turned into serious hostilities. The city of Kapan and the border settlements were massively shelled. A decision was made to take measures to eliminate the most dangerous bases of the enemy. Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, the Lieutenant General Hrachya Andreasyan worked out a plan, Yuri Khachaturov was appointed head of the operation.

The operation started early in the morning of December 10. After several hours of fighting the Armenian side managed to completely defeat the enemy and change the outcome of the war.

Vazgen Manukyan did not inform the then President Levon Ter-Petrosyan about the operation in Kapan, as the latter was against such actions, considering them unacceptable to the international community.

=== Kalbajar operation ===

The operation to destroy the Azeri military base located in the Kalbajar region, to liberate the occupied settlements and to crush the Lachin - Kalbajar group of the Azerbaijani army took place from March 27 to April 2, 1993. It was also during Vazgen Manukyan's tenure and was under his direct leadership.

Kalbajar was very significant in its position. Martakert was being shelled from Kalbajar, the enemy forces stationed in Kalbajar were a great danger to the planes replenishing the Shahumyan partisan detachments. It was not possible to liberate Kalbajar in one direction. It was carried out in three directions by simultaneous attack.

In August 1993 Vazgen Manukyan resigned as the Defense Minister, playing a significant role in winning the Artsakh war during his one-year tenure.

== 1996 Presidential Elections ==

In 1995 Vazgen Manukyan was elected a Member of Parliament the RA National Assembly from constituency #20. During the 1996 presidential election a serious opposition front was formed. The main political parties and forces unite, nominating Vazgen Manukyan as a candidate of national accord in the presidential elections.

The 1996 presidential election turned into widespread election falsification in favor of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Even as a result of widespread election falsification, according to official data, Vazgen Manukyan received 41,29% of the vote, while Levon Ter-Petrosyan received 51,75%. It has been alleged that the September 1996 presidential election was rigged to ensure a first round victory for President Levon Ter-Petrossian so that he would not have to face Manukyan in a second round.

The National Democratic Union submitted extensive documentary evidence of falsifications to the Constitutional Court.

“Nevertheless, we did not announce that the opposition candidate had won, but demanded that each constituency opens 3 random boxes, and if election falsification is found, we will go to the second round”. - Vazgen Manukyan.

Opposition protests start. On September 25, 1996 during his speech Vazgen Manukyan announces: “''Now it is being decided which way the state will go. If there comes an illegitimate government, it becomes a tradition and will continue in the same way''».

Vazgen Manukyan and with several people goes to the Central Electoral Commission, offering to open 3 boxes from each region. Vazgen Manukyan announces: “If we do not come out in 20-30 minutes, come for us” .

People move from the Freedom Square along Baghramyan Avenue to the Central Electoral Commission, which was then located in the building of the National Assembly, chanting “Vazgen, the President”. At around 6 pm, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the National Assembly building in support of decisive actions.

A little later, Vova Hakhverdyan, one of Vazgen Manukyan's supporters, comes out of the National Assembly building and states: ''“I personally repeat Vazgen Manukyan's words” - “We will succeed, just be patient. It is his personal request to wait patiently, but the negotiations are being held in a rather difficult atmosphere”''.

After some time passes, seeing that Vazgen Manukyan does not leave the building of the National Assembly, the people brake the iron gates of the National Assembly and enter into the territory of the building. Clashes begin.

Vazgen Manukyan tries to calm down the demonstrators, saying: ''“Here the Commission is making a decision, which we are completely satisfied with. People, the future of our entire nation depends on this moment”''.He calls on the people not to resort to riots and not to raise their hands against the police.

U.S. Department of State report ("Armenia Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996) on the 1996 presidential election and the aftermath

''“President Levon Ter-Petrossian was reelected in a controversial multicandidate election in September, which was flawed by numerous irregularities and serious breaches of the election law.. The opposition rejected the official election results and asked the Constitutional Court to invalidate the Central Election Commission (CEC) decision on the results and to order a new election. The Court's handling of the case did not assuage doubts about the credibility of the official election results ...” .''

''“…The Government's human rights record remained uneven, improving incrementally in some areas, while serious problems remained in others. Its manipulation of the September presidential election continued to restrict citizens' ability to change their government.…”''.

''“…Members of the security forces beat detainees during arrest and interrogation and also beat passersby in areas adjoining demonstrations. These violations of the law by internal security personnel, notably the sixth directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Yerevan, continued in a climate of impunity from government sanction. Security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain citizens. During the government crackdown following a violent demonstration after the presidential election, authorities beat and detained members of the opposition and demonstrators.''

The Government signed an agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) giving general and private access to detainees; however, the Government's cooperation in implementing the agreement was uneven.…” ..

“…The Government continued to place some restrictions on freedom of the press; security forces beat and detained journalists after the September election, and journalists practice some self-censorship.…” .

''“… In the first days of the post presidential election crackdown, while a ban on meetings was in effect, non uniformed internal security forces beat and harassed passersby in the area where a demonstration was held. Two cases of police brutality were registered in the first half of the year. In each case, a detainee committed suicide in detention after having been severely beaten by police. Both cases are under consideration in the Supreme Court…” .''

== Public Council ==

From 2008 to November 13, 2019, Vazgen Manukyan headed the Public Council of the Republic of Armenia. The Public Council was established on July 12, 2008, with the aim of promoting the establishment and development of civil society in the country, creating an atmosphere of tolerance, and constituting a constructive dialogue between the government and various segments of society. Prominent scientists, public, cultural figures, former statesmen, intellectuals were involved in the Council, who, by uniting and cooperating within the Council, formed a common vision for the future of Armenia and the Armenian people, formulated issues that were presented to the authorities of the day.The Council worked closely with the President of the Republic of Armenia, the Head of the Government, and the heads of state agencies. The commissions of the Public Council actively cooperated with the representatives of the relevant state structures. The culture of public dialogue and public discussions reached a new level of development.

on July 7, 2010 the Public Council of the RA became a member of the International Organization of Public Councils (www.aicesis.org), at the General Assembly of International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (AICESIS) in New York, upon the presentation of the AICESIS presidency. Within the framework of international cooperation the Public Council of the RA signed bilateral cooperation agreements with a number of countries of the Association (Russia, China, Brazil, Greece, Portugal)

Since 2015 Public Council of the RA has also been a member of International Association the Union of Francophone Countries (UCESIF).

== “Vernatun” Social-Political Club ==

In 2019, so that to meet the developments in the social and political life of Armenia, the existing problems and dangers, Vazgen Manukyan founded the “Vernatun” public-political club. The goal of the club is to promote the creation of a healthy environment and public consolidation in RA due to the efforts of all political forces, non-governmental organizations and politically active individuals, contributing to overcoming of the problems that Armenia faces and to formation of future-oriented guidelines and ideas

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Astghik Manukyan (talk • contribs) 10:19, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, I do not speak or write Armenian, so I asked for help on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Armenia. Hopefully, an editor will complete this request soon. In the meantime, there are lots of text in your request that do not have sources, and thus will not be added. Please read WP:CITE for more details. If you have any questions, please post on the help desk. Happy editing! Z1720 (talk) 00:18, 10 January 2021 (UTC)


 * I am closing this request due to non-response. It looks like the requester wants to replace completely the existing article with a new one citing non-English sources. That isn't going to happen. Please make a series of new requests with changes and additions to existing sections, without disturbing reliable sourcing that is already in this article. ~Anachronist (talk) 23:06, 13 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi . Now that your edit request has been answered, let me offer you some suggestions before you make another one.Please don't just simply copy and paste pretty much the enitre article onto this talk page and then request that changes be made. There are a couple of reasons why that's not a good idea. The first one is that the formating of the article and the sections contained therein is design for articles, not talk pages and copying and pasting large chucks of the article onto this talk page may cause problems with the formatting of this page. The second reason is that some of the content you copy and paste might be considered a copyright violation if you don't do it correctly. The third and probably most important reason to not to do such a thing though is that it makes it very hard for those answering edit requests to figure out exactly what changes you want made. Basically, you're asking them to compare you proposed version with the current version of the article and go through each line by line to figure out what things you want changed. While there might be some WP:VOLUNTEERs who are will to spend lots of their time doing this, most won't and they will simply decline your request as being too vague to figure out. Your best bet here is to make your edit requests that are specific but also brief and easy to understand; for example, things like "Change X to Y" or "Add this sentence supported by this source" tend to be much easier to answer.As for non-English sources, they are OK per WP:NONENGLISH, but sources written in English are easier to understand and verify. If you want to cite non-English sources, it would help if you can provide a rough English translation of the source and clarify what parts of the source support the changes you want made. As Anachronist points out above, English sources won't simply be removed because they are in English and you don't want to use them. If, however, the English sources being cited in the article are wrong for some reason, you're free to discuss them and explain why. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:56, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Marchjuly Thank you very much for the suggestions. --Astghik Manukyan (talk) 07:21, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Recent edits using Vazgen Manukyan's own speeches/writings as sources
Hi User, I saw your recent edits and wanted to let you know that Vazgen Manukyan's own speeches and writings can be used as sources but it has to be explicitly stated that it's quoting him or reflecting his perspective. Using sources written by Manukyan himself to describe historical events he was involved in is a violation of WP:NPOV. Mrdo (talk) 02:29, 7 February 2021 (UTC) Hi Mrdo, Thank you very much for your comment, I will take it into consideration and will improve my sources. What refers to Manukyan’s speeches, I just put it as an additional information proving the events of that time.--Կարինե Կիրակոսյան (talk) 14:49, 9 February 2021 (UTC)