Artsakh Defence Army

The Artsakh Defence Army, formally the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh and also called the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army, was the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh. It was founded on 9 May 1992 and united the disorganized volunteer detachments that Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh had formed in the early 1990s, often called jokat or fedayeen groups of a dozen to forty men. Its founders included Robert Kocharyan, who became its first commander-in-chief, along with Serzh Sargsyan, Vazgen Sargsyan, Monte Melkonian and Samvel Babayan. Many of its soldiers and officers were Soviet veterans, some from the Soviet-Afghan War. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War it gained heavy equipment by capturing Azerbaijani tanks and armoured vehicles. After the 1994 ceasefire its main role was protecting the republic, and it was disbanded on 20 September 2023 under the ceasefire terms that followed the 2023 Azerbaijani military offensive.