Monte Melkonian

So as I wrote in my last post, on the day of elections in Karabakh, I had little to do, and fortunately had a copy of the biography "My Brother's Road", about Monte Melkonian, by his brother Markar. I highly recommend the book. It was not only about Monte's role as a commander in the Karabakh War, but unexpectedly (for me) also an inside account of what ASALA (the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) was all about.

His actions in Karabakh, where he was almost immediately given a role of leadership in the Martuni area by Vasgen Sargsyan were very idealistic and humane. He was always concerned about civilians, even more so the Azeri civilians than Armenians... for at one point, he forbade Armenian civilians to leave their homes in anticipation of a largescale assault by Azerbaijan in order to ensure the Armenian men fought harder. That is a tough decision and I don't know if I can say I'd have made the same choice there. He was given his leadership role to a large degree because he was an outsider, who could be seen as neutral in the local politics and clan struggles against one another. Honesty was also a huge problem he had to face, finding it hard to even find people to guard warehouses who would not steal.

In his earlier role as an ASALA fighter, he killed a number of Turks, and was one of the key men in the organization, which was run by a dictatorial esheg (according to this account) who Monte eventually determined to kill, but never was able to make it happen. The organization was a much smaller one than I'd imagined, and the way it was run, what was going on behind the scenes... the book gives an excellent, and for me very surprising account. It was crazy how long it took for Monte to be able to get to Armenia thanks to the Soviet rule, and I didn't even really realize he spent time in French jails.

Overall, just a fascinating, worthwhile read. The author, who does add a bit of his own commentary, which at times seems out of place and judgmental in a inappropriate way, has done an excellent job of piecing together the life of Monte, getting on the inside of ASALA and the Karabakh war, and making it all in interesting and easy read.

And finally, at the end, he puts to rest all rumors of conspiracies to kill Monte by Armenians, and "friendly fire", etc. Monte died in a surprise run in with Azeris, in a newly captured town which was not yet secure. Both sides saw each other clearly, and were clearly confused by the identity of the other, and finally shooting broke out leading to Monte's death by shrapnel in his forehead.