TOP GENERAL SET TO BECOME NEW DEFENSE MINISTER
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 24 2007
President Robert Kocharian was poised to appoint Colonel-General Mikael
Harutiunian, the longtime chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff,
as Armenia’s new defense on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, who held the key post until being
named to head the ruling cabinet, told RFE/RL in the morning that
a corresponding presidential decree will be signed and made public
later in the day.
Kocharian’s office made no such announcements as of 7 pm Yerevan
time. Major presidential decisions are often publicized just minutes
before the main news program of state television, which airs at 9 pm
local time.
Harutiunian effectively confirmed his impending appointment as he
spoke with RFE/RL during a morning visit to the genocide memorial in
Yerevan. Asked whether he plans any changes in the military, he said,
"The army is a structure that always needs change. But if everyone
is doing a good job, why should you change anything?"
Harutiunian has already performed defense minister’s duties since
Sarkisian replaced the late Prime Minister Andranik Markarian on
April 4. The 61-year-old general served in the Soviet armed forces
before moving to Armenia and joining its newly formed army in 1992,
at the height of the war with Azerbaijan. He was appointed as chief
of army staff and first deputy defense minister by then President
Levon Ter-Petrosian two years later.
Kocharian was widely expected to appoint Harutiunian on the last day
of a 20-day constitutional deadline for the formation of Sarkisian’s
de facto caretaker cabinet, which has to step down right after the
May 12 parliamentary elections. He re-appointed earlier this month
all other government ministers, who resigned following Markarian’s
sudden death on March 25.
Few observers believe that Harutiunian will be re-appointed as minister
in the event of the Sarkisian-led Republican Party’s victory in the
elections. Armenian press reports have said Seyran Ohanian, commander
of Nagorno-Karabakh’s army, and former Deputy Defense Minister Artur
Aghabekian are more likely to get the job.
Aghabekian resigned from his post and was discharged from the
Armed Forces in February to contest the elections as a candidate
of another governing party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun). The move fueled speculation that Sarkisian will
pick Aghabekian as the next defense minister in exchange for a
Dashnaktsutyun endorsement of his anticipated presidential bid.
"We congratulate and wish [Harutiunian] success, but continue to
believe that Artur Aghabekian would make the best defense minister,"
Hrant Markarian, a top Dashnaktsutyun leader, told RFE/RL. "I think
they don’t find it appropriate to give [the post] to Dashnaktsutyun
in the pre-election period."
Markarian said Aghabekian will "likely" become minister after the
elections, but insisted that his party has not cut any power-sharing
deals with Kocharian and Sarkisian yet.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
