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Comment by notch656a | Hacker News Reader

Notably an American, Monte Melkonian, was responsible in part for commanding the retaking of this territory by Armenians in the 90s.

"Melkonian had no prior service record in any country's army before being placed in command of an estimated 4,000 men in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War."

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Melkonian was member of ASALA, a military group that is considered a terrorist organisation in the US and the EU.

By the end Melkonian also considered it a terrorist organization, which is why he left and fought for in Nagorno-Karabakh instead. "My Brother's Road" is a decent read that explains much of his thoughts.

From the surname, Melkonian sounds ethnic Armenian. So it may not be a case of "a random American".

I have an Irish surname despite having never been to the island in my life. What would you call it if I was leading a division of the Irish army to try and retake Derry?

The average Armenian-American has more connections to Armenians in Europe than the average Irish-American has to Ireland.

May be true, but generally Americans outside of a few backwater racist areas will consider it valid to refer to someone as an 'American' if they were born here, unless they renounced citizenship. And doubly so if they were born here and spent the vast majority of their childhood here.

I'm curious why you put "random" in quotations.

Melkon is the Armenian form of the name "Melchior", so yes.

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