for his envisioned "Armenian Patriotic Liberation Movement," in which he outlines seven core principles: 1) revolutionary internationalism, 2) democracy and self-determination, 3) socialism, 4) feminism, 5) environmentalism, 6) anti-imperialism, and 7) peace and disarmament. By the early 1990s he saw Karabakh as a "sacred cause". He is quoted as saying, "If we lose Karabakh, we turn the final page of our people's history." Monte was also an internationalist. In an article titled "Imperialism in the New World Order" he declared his support for socialist movements in Palestine, South Africa, Central America and elsewhere. He also espoused environmentalism from an anti-capitalist perspective. According to one author his economic views were influenced by the Beirut-based Armenian Marxist economist Alexander Yenikomshian. Maile Melkonian, Monte's sister, wrote in response to David Rieff's 1997 article in Foreign Affairs that Melkonian was never associated with and was not a supporter of the views of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaks). Self-defeating behavior in daily life Monte was said to have led an exemplary life by not smoking and drinking. Monte advocated that revolutionary socialists must lead "practical self-disciplined lives" and avoid "self-destructive habits" such as smoking or drinking alcohol: "By severely diminishing a person's self-discipline, these dependencies inhibit a person from becoming a member of the vanguard, and especially a guerrilla or fedaii." When he joined in toasts, he is said to have raised a glass of yogurt. Monte is widely known to have forbidden his soldiers consumption of alcohol. He also established a policy of collecting a tax in kind on Martuni wine, in the form of diesel and ammunition for his fighters. Monte also burned cultivated fields of cannabis in Karabakh. Personal life Monte Melkonian married his long-time girlfriend Seda Kebranian at the Geghard monastery in Armenia in August 1991. They had met in the late 1970s in Lebanon. In a 1993 interview Monte said that they had had no time to start a family. He stated, "We'll settle down when the Armenian people's struggle is over." As of 2013 Seda, an activist and a lecturer, resided in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband Joel Condon who is a professor of architecture at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Awards sources: References Notes Citations Bibliography Melkonian, Monte (1990). The Right to Struggle: Selected Writings of Monte Melkonian on the Armenian National Question. San Francisco: Sardarabad Collective External links The Monte Melkonian Fund is a non-profit charity established