David Babayan

David Babayan is an Armenian diplomat, political analyst, academic and former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh. Born in Stepanakert, he studied economics at the Yerevan Institute of National Economy, later earning graduate degrees from the American University of Armenia and Central European University in Budapest. His academic and professional work has focused heavily on geopolitics, the Artsakh conflict, regional security and international relations.

Babayan taught political science and related subjects and published extensively on the South Caucasus, great-power competition and the Azerbaijani-Artsakh conflict. Alongside his academic work, he spent more than two decades in Artsakh’s public institutions. He served in the Foreign Ministry, in the Office of the President and as head of the Central Information Department, becoming one of Artsakh’s most recognizable public voices in international media.

He later became Foreign Minister of Artsakh and, after leaving that post, served as an adviser and presidential representative-at-large. Babayan also founded the Artsakh Conservative Party and participated in political life beyond his government positions. Throughout the blockade and the final period before the fall of Artsakh, he continued publicly addressing the security of the population and Artsakh’s right to self-determination.

After Azerbaijan’s September 2023 attack, Babayan announced that Azerbaijani authorities were demanding that he present himself to them. He said that refusing to do so or escaping could cause harm to other Armenians and that he would not allow others to suffer because of him. He left Stepanakert for occupied Shushi and was taken hostage by Azerbaijani authorities.

Babayan was transferred to Baku and placed in the mass sham trial of Artsakh’s leadership. In 2026, the Baku Military Court illegally sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Baku Court of Appeals later left the verdict unchanged. He remains an illegally held Armenian hostage in Azerbaijan.