Simon Achikgyozyan

Simon Achikgyozyan (Սիմոն Աչիկգյոզյան, February 6, 1939 – April 30, 1991) was one of the earliest Armenian military commanders during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. He is considered a hero in Armenia.

Early life, education and career
Achikgyozyan was born in the city of Galați, Kingdom of Romania to Hovhannes and Siranuysh from the Ottoman Empire, survivors of the Armenian Genocide. His last name is of Turkish origin with açık meaning "open", göz (eye) and "-yan" is the traditional Armenian last name ending. In 1946, his family resettled in Soviet Armenia. Achikgyozyan graduated from the Yerevan State University in 1960 as an engineer-geologist. From 1961 to 1990, he worked at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. He is an author of over 70 scientific publications on geology and minerals of Armenia.

Karabakh war
The Karabakh movement that started in February 1988 demanded the unification of the mostly Armenian-population Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast region of Soviet Azerbaijan with Armenia. The tensions between Armenians and Azerbaijanis soon escalated into an armed conflict known as the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Achikgyozyan joined the ARF-affiliated Arabo detachment in 1989 and was elected into the Yerevan City Council in 1990. By early 1991, the tensions rose gradually to a point where an armed conflict became inevitable. In late April 1991, the joint Soviet and Azerbaijan security forces perpetrated the Operation Ring. It included the deportation of thousands of civilian Armenians from the region. Armenian volunteer groups, led by Tatul Krpeyan (posthumously awarded with the National Hero of Armenia title) and Simon Achikgyozyan organized self-defense operations, however their actions were suppressed by Soviet-Azerbaijani forces. On April 30, 1991, Achikgyozyan, along with Krepyan were killed in Martunashen village.