Agence France Presse — English
February 20, 2008 Wednesday 11:23 AM GMT
Serzh Sarkisian: ex-army commander to lead Armenia
by Michael Mainville
YEREVAN, Feb 20 2008
A former military commander in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorny
Karabakh region, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian rose to the top of
Armenia’s leadership after turning his talent for strategy to
politics.
Official results on Wednesday showed Sarkisian, 53, winning this
ex-Soviet nation’s presidential election in the first round, beating
former president Levon Ter-Petrosian by a wide margin.
His victory caps a long rise from rebel soldier to political
heavyweight and seals the dominance of the Karabakh clan over
Armenian politics.
Outgoing President Robert Kocharian, who served 10 years, is also
>From Karabakh and handpicked Sarkisian as his successor.
Born in the Karabakh capital Stepanakert, Sarkisian started his
political career as an official in the Komsomol, the youth branch of
the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.
In the late 1980s he became involved in the movement to transfer
Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Soviet-era Azerbaijan, to
Armenian control. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and war
broke out over the region, Sarkisian became a rebel fighter and
eventually commander of the separatist forces.
The bloody conflict, which lasted until a 1994 ceasefire, left
thousands dead and forced nearly a million people on both sides from
their homes. The two countries remain officially at war over the
region, which is now controlled by the separatists but not recognized
internationally as a country.
During the war, Sarkisian formed a close relationship with Kocharian,
another rebel leader. He would later become the future president’s
most trusted ally.
In 1993 he became Armenia’s defence minister under Ter-Petrosian,
starting a long career in a series of key security positions. He was
head of the national security ministry from 1995 to 1999, but
resigned after armed gunmen stormed the Armenian parliament and
killed seven high-ranking officials, including the prime minister.
He returned as chief of the defence ministry in 2000 and held the
position until the death last March of Prime Minister Andranik
Markarian, when he was appointed prime minister.
A year earlier Sarkisian had become chairman of the ruling Republican
Party, fuelling rumours that he was in line to replace Kocharian
after his second five-year term expired.
Sarkisian scored a major victory last May when the Republican Party
swept parliamentary elections and foreign observers declared the vote
largely in accordance with international standards.
He campaigned vigorously ahead of Tuesday’s election, holding mass
rallies with tens of thousands of voters. He played up the
government’s economic credentials, pointing to four years of
unprecedented growth and rising living standards.
Analysts predict Sarkisian will follow in Kocharian’s footsteps,
pursuing close ties with Moscow and a hawkish stance in relations
with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The two countries have cut diplomatic ties and sealed their borders
with Armenia over its support for the Karabakh separatists.
Ankara has also been angered by Yerevan’s campaign to have the World
War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire recognised
as genocide.
In an interview with AFP before the vote, Sarkisian said a peace deal
with Azerbaijan was close, despite more than a decade of stalled
talks.
He also blamed Turkey for the impasse in restoring diplomatic ties,
saying it was unconscionable for the country to demand Armenia stop
pressing for genocide recognition.
He said he had no doubts about following Kocharian’s example.
"Kocharian’s policy is very simple — to make economic growth
sustainable, to become a member of the European family of nations, to
normalise relations with our neighbours and to peacefully resolve the
problem of Nagorny Karabakh. Do you see anything bad in this?" he
said.