Armen Sarkissian: Difference between revisions

Armen Sarkissian Արմեն Սարգսյան
4th President of Armenia
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 April 2018
Prime Minister	Karen Karapetyan (Acting) Serzh Sargsyan Karen Karapetyan (Acting) Nikol Pashinyan
Preceded by	Serzh Sargsyan
9th Prime Minister of Armenia
In office 4 November 1996 – 20 March 1997
President	Levon Ter-Petrosyan
Preceded by	Hrant Bagratyan
Succeeded by	Robert Kocharyan
Ambassador of Armenia to the United Kingdom
In office 1998 – 8 April 2018
President	Robert Kocharyan Serzh Sargsyan
Prime Minister	Armen Darbinyan Vazgen Sargsyan Aram Sargsyan Andranik Margaryan Serzh Sargsyan Tigran Sargsyan Hovik Abrahamyan Karen Karapetyan Hovik Abrahamyan Tigran Sargsyan
Succeeded by	Armen Liloyan (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1952-06-23) June 23, 1952 (age 72) Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Nouneh Sarkissian
Children	2
Occupation	Politician, physicist, computer scientist

Armen Vardani Sarkissian (Template:Lang-hy;^{[note 1]} born 23 June 1952) is an Armenian physicist, computer scientist and politician, who currently serves as the incumbent President of Armenia.^[1] He served as Prime Minister of Armenia from 4 November 1996 to 20 March 1997 and previously was the country's (longest-serving) ambassador in London since 1998. Sarkissian assumed the presidency on 9 April 2018.^[2]

He was also one of the co-creators of the original Tetris-Wordtris game.^[3][4][5][6]

Sarkissian graduated from the Yerevan State University Department of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics.

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the National Competitiveness Council of Armenia.

From 1976 to 1984, he was a professor of Physics at Yerevan State University and subsequently Head of the Department of Computer Modeling of Complex Systems at the same university's Department of Theoretical Physics.

He later became a visiting research fellow and eventually a professor at the University of Cambridge.^[7][8]

In October 1991, Sarkissian established the Armenian Embassy in London, the first Armenian diplomatic mission in the West. In addition to his diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom, he went on to become Senior Ambassador of Armenia to the European Union (EU), to Belgium and the Netherlands, Luxembourg and The Vatican. In 1995-1996, he was the Head of Mission of Armenia to the European Union.

After serving as Armenian Prime Minister between 1996 and 1997, he was appointed as Special Advisor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and as a Governor of EBRD from 1998 to 2000.

He was re-appointed Armenian Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1998 and served until he was elected president on April 9, 2018.

Armen Sarkissian was also one of the directors of Eurasia House.^[9] and Vice Chairman of the EastWest Institute. He held many honorary and executive positions in a number of international organizations including Member of Dean's Advisory Board at Kennedy School of Governance at Harvard University, Dean's Advisory Board at Harris School of Public Policy Studies at University of Chicago, Board member of International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX), the International Economic Alliance and Global Leadership Foundation. He was an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary and Westfield College (now Queen Mary University of London).

He was a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law.

Since 2013 he has served on the board of trustees of the International School in Dilijan, Armenia. In January 2018, he received Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's offer to be the ruling Republican Party's nominee in the country's first presidential election since the 2015 constitutional reforms.^[10]

Dr. Sarkissian was appointed Prime Minister of Armenia in 1996, serving until 1997.

President Serzh Sargsyan on January 19, 2018 recommended the candidacy of Sarkissian, for President to be supported by the ruling Republican Party during the 2018 Armenian presidential election. He also enjoyed additional support from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation bloc as well as from the Tsarukian Parliamentary bloc.

He was elected president by a majority of the National Assembly on 2 March 2018 with 90 votes in a 105-member House.^[1] Sarkissian was the only candidate in the election.

Sarkissian was inaugurated on 9 April 2018. The inauguration ceremony took place at the Karen Demirchyan Complex in Yerevan.^[11][12][13] After the ceremony, he visited the Yerablur military pantheon, and layed a wreath at the monument with Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan.^[14]

On inauguration day the government led by Karen Karapetyan resigned and parties in the National Assembly had a week to put forward their proposals for prime minister.^[15] Former president Serzh Sargsyan was unanimously nominated by the members of ruling parties in the National Assembly on 16 April, and was confirmed as prime minister on 17 April.^[16] However, Sargsyan's election as prime minister was met by large-scale protests, and he resigned six days after taking the office.^[17] Karapetyan was subsequently appointed to serve as acting prime minister.^[18]

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland 1st degree - (September 15, 2017)^[19]
• St. Gregory the Great Award (1997) - bestowed by Pope John Paul II.
• St. Gregory the Illuminator medal (2008) - the highest honour of the Armenian Apostolic Church - by Karekin II, Catholicos Patriarch of All Armenians of Holy Etchmiadzin.

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