Committee, Kaputikyan, Balayan, Muradyan, and others formed the "first Karabakh Committee", which had only one goal—unification of the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) with Soviet Armenia "by using the Soviet system". Ter-Petrosyan suggests that "For them, issues like democracy or the independence of Armenia simply did not exist." At a 15 February 1988 meeting of the Writers Union of Armenia Kaputikyan spoke up in support of the Karabakh Armenians. On 26 February Kaputikyan and Balayan met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin to discuss the Karabakh issue. According to Thomas de Waal "Both Armenian writers combined loyal [Communist] Party membership with Armenian nationalism but were very different in nature." He describes Kaputikyan as follows: Silva Kaputikian has a more calm and regal demeanor. With a flat nose, green eyes, and an elegant white bouffant hairdo, she looks like a grande dame from the court of Louis XV. Kaputikian is Armenia's most famous living poet and, as it emerged from the meeting, counted Raisa Gorbacheva as one of her fans. Despite her nationalist views, she has spoken up frequently for conciliation and dialogue with Azerbaijan. After they returned to Armenia, they persuaded the demonstrators to pause the rallies. Overall, her role in the Karabakh movement is considered controversial. Environmentalism On an October 1987 demonstration organized by Zori Balayan Kaputikyan demanded the authorities to shut down all chemical plants in Armenia and warned: "Don't let the Red genocide be followed by this invisible genocide!" On a 26 April 1988 meeting at the Writer's Union building in Kiev, Ukraine commemorating the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster Kaputikyan's telegram "expressing solidarity in grief" was read at the beginning. In January 1989 Kaputikyan stated that the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia should be shut down and that "it had threatened to destroy the very genotype of the Armenian nation." Independent Armenia In 1996 Kaputikyan was among a group of 14 intellectuals who signed an open letter asking Prosecutor General Artavazd Gevorgyan to take action against Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, who, in the aftermath of the 1996 presidential election, stated that his ministry would not recognize the opposition leaders "even if they win 100 percent of the votes". Kaputikyan was increasingly critical of the government of independent Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan. On 14 April 2004, she wrote an open letter titled "Kocharyan Must Go" («Քոչարյանը պետք է հեռանա»), where she called for