YEREVAN (A.W.)—Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan officially submitted his resignation at a government session on Sept. 8.
“The [Armenian] society and the government need to unite their efforts. We need a new beginning. That is why I have decided to resign and to give our President an opportunity to form a new government. We must think about everyone’s success and give a chance to a new government,” he said during his formal resignation speech.
Reports of Abrahamyan’s resignation began surfacing a day earlier on Sept. 7.
An economic slowdown this year and outbreaks of violence prompted Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian to call for a “government of national accord” in August.
On Sept. 7, local media outlets also began reporting that Abrahamyan would be replaced by technocrat Karen Karapetyan. The 53-year-old Karapetyan is the former head of the national gas distributing company ArmRosGazprom and served as Yerevan’s mayor from Dec. 2010 to Nov. 2011.
Abrahamyan was appointed prime minister in 2014.
Very convenient move. Other resignations will likely follow. Rats abandoning a sinking ship…
Good riddance!!!
Maybe his successor will allow garbage collection and fix the road to Geghard. The villages along the road were being punished for not allowing Hovik to re-direct their water to his orchards.
It is never a good sign when a Prime Minister abruptly resigns.
There is too much unease. Too many ills facing the nation. Too many threats to the safety of the country.
The President called for a ” government of national accord”.
What does that really mean?
Radical change is needed to eradicate the numerous issues that are
the root causes of the problems. Merely replacing the Prime Minister does not resolve the problem.
Vart Adjemian
Anrahamyan has fortress like commercial/residential building in the center and more. How on earth. Will the change be an improvement or is it more of musical chair?
Good riddance. I can’t analyze everything this guy did, or actually didn’t do (so I hope I’m not being unfair), but I was never impressed with many of his opinions, for one, he decided not to ban Turkish products in Armenia, saying “the consumer needs to decide”. Oh, the consumer needs to decide whether to purchase Turkish goods or not, when Turkey is behind all the anti-Armenian activities all over the world, including the behavior of Azerbaijan towards Armenia. This is not what I call a real government official. Nor is this a real patriot, or for that matter a person who has any economic insight.
Instead of motivating Armenia to move towards self-sufficiency, and thus economic growth, he advocated enriching Armenia’s main enemy and Genocide perpetrator instead.
Compare this to the USA and its relations with Cuba for the past 4 decades because of Cuba’s anti-American activities. The US banned all trade with Cuba and stuck to its principles instead of reciting silly amateurish nonsense like “let the consumer decide”. I don’t believe for one second that Turkey produces products that Armenia can’t, better and even cheaper. It starts with a will and a vision.
What has Mr Abrahamyan’s government achieved since 2014 to Armenia’s benefit except for filling his and his friends’ pockets? The charade of political legitimacy by current leaders in Armenia is mathematically leading the country to disaster. Shaking up the current governing people after they have made their millions and replacing them with new players eager to make their own millions is not the solution. Let the last Armenian leaving the country turn off the lights!