ARMENCHIK A DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
by Lusine Barseghyan
Haykakan Zhamanak
April 15 2008
Armenia
Intrigues and "bazaars" continue inside the authorities. And because
[Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan has been trying to form the cabinet
as "secretly" as possible, without long consultations with others and
without leaving room for negotiations, for several days now, rumours
and discontent continue under walls in the corridors of power. And
as those unhappy from how government positions are being distributed,
Sargsyan has decided on several appointments.
Our sources in the authorities say that Sargsyan has decided not
to keep [Minister for Territorial Administration and Deputy Prime
Minister] Hovik Abrahamyan. According to our information, [former
President] Robert Kocharyan’s most favourite official, Armen Gevorgyan,
the current chief of the presidential staff, will be appointed as
deputy prime minister in the new cabinet. Abrahamyan’s hard efforts
to become prime minister, in fact, failed.
According to very reliable sources, Yerevan’s Erebuni district mayor
Mher Sedrakyan, Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan, MP Levon
Sargsyan ("Lyov of Mill") and other people close to Sargsyan met the
latter in [resort town of] Tsakhkadzor days ago, trying to persuade
him to appoint Abrahamyan prime minister. After that, according
to our sources, Sargsyan had a meeting with intellectuals, also
attended by [new Prime Minister] Tigran Sargsyan, during which all
the intellectuals had said that Abrahamyan should not be appointed
even deputy prime minister. It was after this meeting that Serzh
Sargsyan has decided to dismiss his close friend Abrahamyan. But
Abrahamyan will not be left jobless and will be appointed chief of
the presidential staff.