"If we lose [Karabakh]," the bulletin of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Forces quoted him as saying, "we turn the final page of our people's history." He believed that, if Azeri forces succeeded in deporting Armenians from Karabakh, they would advance on Zangezur and other regions of Armenia. This proved prescient given Azerbaijan's insistence of a "Zangezur corridor" following the 2020 ceasefire agreement and Azerbaijan's incursion into sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia during the 2020-2021 border crisis. Thus, he saw the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh as crucial for the long-term security of the entire Armenian nation. Nagorno-Karabakh On September 12 (or 14) 1991 Monte travelled to the Shahumian region (north of Karabakh), where he fought for three months in the fall of 1991. There he participated in the capture of Erkej, Manashid and Buzlukh villages. On February 4, 1992, Melkonian arrived in Martuni as the regional commander. Upon his arrival the changes were immediately felt: civilians started feeling more secure and at peace as Azeri armies were pushed back and were finding it increasingly difficult to shell Martuni's residential areas with GRAD missiles. In April 1993, Melkonian was one of the chief military strategists who planned and led the operation to fight Azeri fighters and capture the region of Kalbajar of Azerbaijan which lies between Armenia and former NKAO. Armenian forces captured the region in four days of heavy fighting, sustaining far fewer fatalities than the enemy. Death and legacy Monte was killed in the abandoned village of Merzili in the early afternoon of June 12, 1993 during the Battle of Aghdam. According to Markar Melkonian, Monte's older brother and author of his biography, Monte died in the waning hours of the evening by enemy fire during an unexpected skirmish that broke out with several Azerbaijani soldiers who had likely gotten lost. Monte was buried with full military honors on June 19, 1993, at Yerablur military cemetery in the outskirts of Yerevan, where his coffin was brought from the Surb Zoravar Church in the city center. Some 50,000 to 100,000 people (some reports put the figure as high as 250,000), including Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, acting Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Gerard Libaridian, government officials, and parliamentarians attended his funeral. The Karabakh town of Martuni was renamed Monteaberd (or Monteapert; ; literally "Fort Monte") in his honor. In 1993 the Monte Melkonian Military Academy was established in Yerevan. In