KOCHARIAN VOWS ‘PARTICULAR ATTENTION’ TO ARMY
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
April 25 2007

President Robert Kocharian promised more government efforts to reform
and strengthen the military as he introduced Armenia’s newly appointed
defense minister, Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian, to the Defense
Ministry staff on Wednesday.

The appointment was announced by Kocharian’s office late Tuesday.

In a separate presidential decree, Harutiunian, 61, was dismissed as
chief of the army staff and discharged from the Armed Forces to run
the Defense Ministry as a civilian. That significantly increases his
chances of serving as defense minister in Armenia’s next government
to be formed after the May 12 parliamentary elections.

Harutiunian, 61, was until now not regarded as the favorite to occupy
the post that became vacant following Serzh Sarkisian’s appointment as
prime minister on April 4. Two other top army generals, Seyran Ohanian
and Artur Aghabekian, were thought to be more likely to get the job.

Addressing the ministry staff, Kocharian said Harutiunian will
strengthen the army and carry on with defense reforms stemming from
Armenia’s individual partnership action plan with NATO. "Security
is a high priority for the country, and our policy is aimed and
will be aimed at further boosting the army’s combat-readiness and
paying particular attention to security issues in general," he said
in televised remarks.

Kocharian also thanked Sarkisian for his "large-scale and effective
work" at the helm of the Defense Ministry.