DIPLOMAT’S SON SAYS HE NEVER THOUGHT HE’D BE ONE HIMSELF
Embassy, Canada
May 31 2006
Arman Akopian, the new Minister Counsellor and Charge d’Affaires at
the Embassy of Armenia, grew up the son of a diplomat, but he never
thought he would one day become one himself.
At a young age, Mr. Akopian embarked on an academic career in Arabic,
Hebrew and Aramaic studies at Yerevan State University in Armenia. At
that time, Armenia was part of the Soviet Union and Mr. Akopian says
opportunities for a career in diplomacy were limited. But that changed
when the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia became independent in 1991.
But still, Mr. Akopian says he didn’t give any thought to following in
his father’s footsteps in the Foreign Service, and continued teaching
at the university. Then he was invited to join the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs as a desk officer in the Middle East Department.
In 1992, he was posted to Egypt as Second Secretary in the political,
economical and cultural affairs section of the Armenian mission
in Cairo.
“It took me two months to get used to it,” says Mr. Akopian, 42.
After his Egypt posting ended in 1995, Mr. Akopian was promoted to
the position of Second Secretary in the Middle East Department in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later he became First Secretary and
a member of Armenia’s foreign policy planning group.
Towards the late 1990s, Mr. Akopian became Director of the Middle
East Department. In 1999 he was posted to New York as Counsellor at
Armenia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. In 2002, he became
Director of the Department of Arms Control and International Security
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Akopian arrived in Ottawa two weeks ago. He replaces Ambassador
Ara Papian, who left for Armenia early this year. But even though he
became a diplomat, Mr. Akopian continues to teach at the university
whenever he is working in Yerevan. He admits that he is still deeply
attached to academia and relishes every chance he gets to teach.
“Teaching young people is refreshing, it keeps you away from being
bureaucratic,” he says. Mr. Akopian says he chose to come to Canada
because of interactions with Canadians in multilateral forums like
NATO and the UN.
“I already had a very good knowledge about Canada even before coming
here,” he says, adding that he hopes to add to the cordial relations
between Armenia and Canada. Mr. Akopian is married and has two
daughters. In his free time he likes fencing, studying and playing
classical guitar and reading. In addition he also likes studying
languages and spending time with his family. Mr. Akopian speaks
Armenian, English, French, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin
and is the author of two books on modern Hebrew and classical Syriac,
an eastern Aramaic language.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
