From California to Artsakh: Monte Melkonian’s Legacy Remembered on 68th Birthday Anniversary

November 25 is the birthday anniversary of Monte Melkonian, the legendary Armenian commander, thinker, and soldier whose life story continues to shape modern Armenian memory. He would have turned 68 today.

Monte Melkonian was born in 1957 at Visalia Municipal Hospital in Visalia, California. He was the third of four children in a family where his father worked as a self-employed cabinetmaker and his mother taught at an elementary school. As a child he was described as an all-American boy. He joined the Boy Scouts and played baseball as a Little League pitcher. At home, his parents rarely discussed their Armenian roots, referring to the homeland of their ancestors simply as the “Old Country.”

In the same year of his birth, the family visited Turkey to see Merzifon, the town where Monte’s maternal grandparents had lived. Although the town had over 23,000 residents, it had almost no Armenians left from the once 17,000-strong Armenian population destroyed during the Armenian Genocide. The Melkonians met one remaining Armenian family, and Monte later learned that this family survived only because the head of the household agreed in 1915 to identify Armenians to Ottoman authorities in exchange for protection. Monte later told his wife that “he was never the same after that visit....He saw the place that had been lost.”

After returning to California, Monte excelled in school, often surpassing academic expectations. His principal suggested he graduate early, but instead Monte chose a different experience: a study program in East Asia arranged by his father. At age 15 he moved to Japan, taught English to support himself, and traveled through Southeast Asia. These journeys exposed him to new cultures, philosophies, and languages, and in some cases taught him skills he would later use as a soldier.

After returning home, he finished high school and entered the University of California, Berkeley, to study ancient Asian history and archaeology. In 1978 he helped organize an exhibition of Armenian cultural artifacts at the university library. The section on the 1915–23 Armenian Genocide was removed after the Turkish consul general in San Francisco requested it, but campus protests later forced the university to restore it. Monte completed his degree in less than three years and was accepted to study archaeology at Oxford University. He refused the opportunity and chose instead to dedicate himself fully to the Armenian Cause.

Monte arrived in Soviet Armenia on October 6, 1990. During his first months there, he worked at the Armenian Academy of Sciences and completed a monograph on Urartian cave tombs, which was later published after his death. Monte married Seta at Geghard Monastery in August 1991.

After many years away, he wrote that the country was facing confusion and deep economic, political, and environmental challenges. He believed new political forces were pushing Armenia toward further instability. Seeing the Soviet Union collapse, he turned his attention to Nagorno-Karabakh, convinced that its future would decide the long-term safety of the Armenian people. As quoted in the Karabakh Defense Forces bulletin, he warned, “If we lose Karabakh, we turn the final page of the Armenian history.”

Monte believed that if Armenians were forced out of Karabakh, Azeri forces would move toward Zangezur and other parts of Armenia. For him, the defense of Karabakh was essential for the survival of the nation.

In September 1991 he went to the Shahumian region, where he fought for three months. He later became the regional commander in Martuni on February 4, 1992. His arrival strengthened security for civilians as Armenian forces pushed back Azeri units and reduced missile attacks on Martuni.

In April 1993 Monte helped plan and carry out the operation that captured Kalbajar, a strategic region between Armenia and the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The battle lasted four days, and Armenian forces suffered fewer losses than the enemy.

Monte Melkonian was killed on June 12, 1993 in the abandoned Azerbaijani village of Merzili during the Battle of Aghdam. His brother Markar Melkonian wrote that Monte died in the evening during an unexpected clash with Azerbaijani soldiers who had lost their way. He died in the arms of his closest comrades.

Monte was buried with military honors on June 19, 1993 at the Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan. His life, shaped by discipline, ideals, and commitment, continues to influence generations who view him as a symbol of national responsibility and sacrifice.

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