Seyran Ohanyan is the current Defence Minister of Armenia

Defence Minister of Armenia

The Defence Minister of Armenia, heading the Ministry of Defense is charged with the political leadership of the Armed Forces of Armenia. The position was established in January 1992 and is currently headed by Seyran Ohanyan. From 1993-1995 there was a concurrent position of the State Minister for...

. He has held this position since April 14, 2008.

Biography

Ohanyan was born in the town of Shusha

Shusha

Shusha , also known as Shushi is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...

, then a part of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Azerbaijan SSR

Azerbaijan SSR

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....

, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. In 1979, he completed high school in the village of Mrgashen, in the region of Nairi in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Ohanyan attended the Baku

Baku

Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...

 Higher Joint Command College and completed his studies there in 1983. He served as the Second Battalion commander in the 366th Motor Rifle Regiment of Soviet Ground Forces's 23rd Motor Rifle Division with the rank of a major before joining Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...

's newly formed army in 1991 and playing a major role in the Nagorno-Karabakh war

Nagorno-Karabakh War

The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...

 against Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

. He was seriously wounded in action in 1992 and had one of his legs amputated as a result of the injury.

In the government of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ohanyan served as Minister of Defense. Subsequently, he was appointed as chief of the general staff of the Armenian Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia in 2007. After Serzh Sargsyan took office as President of Armenia, he appointed Ohanyan as Minister of Defense on April 14, 2008.

Ohanyan is married and has three sons and one daughter.

Awards and decorations

He has been awarded with the medals and decorations of the USSR, Republic of Armenia

Awards and decorations of Armenia

Awards and decorations of Armenia are military and civil decorations of the Republic of Armenia which are bestowed by various agencies of the Armenian government for acts of accomplishment benefiting the government and the Armenian nation as a whole....

 and Nagorno Karabakh Republic:

USSR:

• 70th Anniversary of USSR Armed Forces
• For Perfect Service
• For Excellency

Republic of Nagorno Karabakh:

• Hero of Artsakh
• Golden Eagle
• Combat Cross 1st degree,
• For the liberation of Shushi

Republic of Armenia:

• Combat Cross 1st degree
• Tigran the Great
• For the Service to the Motherland

Ministry of Defence of Armenia:

• For Perfect Service 1st and 2nd Degrees
• Drastamat Kanayan
  Drastamat Kanayan
  General Drastamat Kanayan , known as General Dro, Դրօ, May 31, 1884 March 8, 1956), was a politician, revolutionary, military commander of Hitler’s Armenian Legion of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany, and part of Armenian national liberation movement as a member of the A.R.F...
  
  
• Marshal Baghramyan
• For the strengthening of cooperation
• Maternal Gratitude
• Soviet Union Marshal Zhukov
  Georgy Zhukov
  Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov , was a Russian career officer in the Red Army who, in the course of World War II, played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers' occupation...
  
  
• Coat of Arms

External links

• Ohanyan's Official Biography