Hayk Kotanjian

Kotanjian is the author of several monographs in Russian, English and German as well as numerous articles on crisis management, ethnic conflict, security, defense and strategic studies, and cyberpsychology.

In July and December 1987, as a member of Armenian Communist Party Central Committee, during Central Committee plenary sessions he publicly accused the leaders of Armenian Communist party of cronyism and corruption, and of sabotaging the policy of reforms aimed at modernization of society, also known as “Perestroika”.

The first secretary of the party district committee, Hayk Kotanjian, spoke of the growth of "a shadow economy," of falsification of reports, of bribery …[17]In 1988 based on his orders Hrazdan region law enforcement bodies launched clandestine activities to register the testimonies of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijani city Sumgait.

Today those “White notes” are located in the archives of Armenia’s General Prosecutor office and are the only professionally systemized evidences on Sumgait massacres.

The government in exile supported the authorities of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to make sober assessments of threats eliminating from the collapse of the USSR.

The utmost significance for both Armenia and Karabakh was the assessment on perspectives of the coup d’état, organized in Moscow in August 1991.

The formation of government in exile by USSR MP Zory Balayan and the acting Armenian Interior Minister Ashot Manucharyan was an extraordinary step, implemented in the extreme unfavorable conditions for the establishment of Armenia and Artsakh sovereignty.

In recognition of Kotanjian's contribution to Armenian-American and Armenia-NATO defense cooperation, he received the Legion of Merit award from the United States Government.