Karabakh Committee
Karabakh Committee (Armenian: Ղարաբաղ կոմիտե) was a group of Armenian intellectuals recognized by many Armenians as their de facto leaders in the late 1980s. The Committee was formed in 1988 with the stated objective of the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. They brought the cause of the Karabakh Armenians to the forefront of national issues in Armenia and Karabakh, including demonstrations in Yerevan of up to a million people. Arrested by Soviet authorities on December 11 of 1988 on charges of obstructing humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan after the December 7th 1988 Spitak earthquake, the leaders of Karabakh Committee were released on May 31 of 1989 to form the Pan-Armenian National Movement, a party which gained power in independent Armenia.
Some of the committee members were (and the offices they went on to fill):
- Levon Ter-Petrosyan (President)
- Vazgen Manukyan (Minister of Defense)
- Babken Ararktsian (Speaker of Parliament)
- Samson Ghazaryan
- Ashot Manucharyan (Minister of National Security)
- Raphael Ghazaryan
- Vano Siradeghyan
- Hambartsum Galstyan
- Davit Vartanyan
- Samvel Gevorkyan