[3] Born in the village of Dağ Cəyir, in Azerbaijan's Shamkir District, Kharatyan graduated from the Yerevan State University (YSU) with a history degree in 1975.

[4] She earned the degree of a Candidate of Sciences from the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography in Moscow by 1979.

[1] From 1979–1989, Kharatyan worked as a researcher at the Oriental studies Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

[1] She was appointed head of the Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs in the Armenian Government[5] in 2004, which she resigned in 2008.

[1] Kharatyan is fluent in Armenian, Russian and has some knowledge of Azerbaijani.