Masis Mayilyan

Mayilyan was born on 14 September 1967 in Stepanakert, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, then a part of the Azerbaijani SSR. From 1984 to 1991 he studied at the Stepanakert State Pedagogical Institute and graduated from the Department of Physics and Mathematics, majoring in engineering and physics. From 1991 to 1992 he pursued his postgraduate studies Armenian State Pedagogical University in Yerevan. He graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in 1998.[2]

Mayilyan began his career at the State Defense Committee of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1992 to 1993. He worked as the chief expert for the committee's information and press sections. In 1993 he began his work at the Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, where he occupied various posts and participated in the negotiation process for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[2] From 2001 to 2007, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister under President Arkadi Ghukasyan.[2]

In the 2007 Artsakh presidential election, Mayilyan ran for President of Artsakh for the first time, receiving 12.53% of the vote and coming in at second place behind Bako Sahakyan, who won 85.12% of the vote and became Artsakh's third president.[3]

On 25 September 2017, Mayilyan was appointed Foreign Minister by President Bako Sahakyan.[4] He participated in 2020 Artsakhian general election as a presidential candidate and was endorsed by New Artsakh Alliance[5][6] and Samvel Babayan's United Motherland party.[7] He came at the second place in the first round of the election and a run-off between him and Arayik Harutyunyan was held on 14 April 2020.[8] However, he made an announcement urging the people of Artsakh not to participate in the second round of elections in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.[9][10] Mayilyan received nearly 12% in the run-off vote, while Arayik Harutyunyan received 88% of the vote and became the 4th President of Artsakh.[11]

Mayilyan was reappointed to the post of foreign minister after the inauguration of President Arayik Harutyunyan in May 2020.[12] On 1 December 2020, in the aftermath of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, President Harutyunyan announced that a national unity government would be formed and a number of cabinet officials would be replaced.[13] Masis Mayilyan was dismissed in early January 2021 and was made an ambassador-at-large. He was succeeded by David Babayan.[14]