Serzh Sargsyan

Serzh Sargsyan has been the President of Armenia since 2008. He was born in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed Armenian-majority region that in reality governs itself while technically remains a part of Azerbaijan. When Nagorno-Karabakh's independence war was breaking out as the Soviet Union was disintegrating, Sargsyan chaired the regions Self-Defense Forces committee, coordinating several battles, and for this he is considered key to the foundation of the armies of both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

After holding several Defense and National Security ministerial positions in Armenia's government, he was elected President in 2008. In the wake of his election, his main challenger disputed the results, calling for protests which turned violent. As President, Sargsyan has sought normalization of relations with Turkey, which have been strained because of the latter's refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide, where 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were massacred by Ottoman forces during World War I, as genocide.

For more information, see http://on.wsj.com/wDJhBq.