1000 Drams Monte Melkonian

Monte Melkonian was an Armenian-American commander who led Artsakh forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and was killed in combat near Merzuli in June 1993, a year before a ceasefire halted active fighting. Armenia posthumously awarded him the title Hero of Armenia — the only foreign national to receive it. This coin was issued by the self-declared Republic of Artsakh, an entity unrecognized by any UN member state, including Armenia itself, making its numismatic output legally ambiguous but historically pointed.