Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

Armenian president presents new defence minister to the armed forces general staff

4 October 2016

The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Monday (3 October) visited the Ministry of Defence building in Yerevan and presented to the officers of the Armed Forces General Staff the new Minister of Defence and the new Chief of Staff. Earlier in the day the President appointed Vigen Sargsyan as Minister of Defence and Movses Hakboyan as Chief of Staff.

Vigen Sargsyan is the first Defence Minister of Armenia who does not have direct experience of fighting in the Karabakh war of the 1990s The President felt it necessary to explain to the officers that the defence minister had to take responsibility for what he termed "military diplomacy", and was also responsible for large defence procurement. The fact that the President felt the need to do this may indicate that some officers did not like the idea of a civilian heading the Ministry of Defence, which in Armenia is the most important Ministry in the government.

Following the short war with Azerbaijan in April the leadership of the Armenian miliatry, as well as the country's political leadership. came under criticism from public opinion, and some commentators accused the military of under-performing.

source: commonspace.eu

photo: President Sargsyan of Armenia presenting the new Minister of Defence and Chief of Staff to the Armed Forces General Staff at a meeting in Yerevan on 3 October 2016 (picture courtesy of the press Office of the president of Armenia

 

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
United States and Iran on the verge of agreement to end hostilities
Trending

United States and Iran on the verge of agreement to end hostilities

13 June 2026
Updated on 13 June at 1330 CEST=========================== Source quoting Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, says the text of a Memorandum between the US and Iran has been agreed, and is likely to be signed in the next 24 hours. Iranian sources are saying that the Memorandum is likely to be signed remotely. ==================== The United States and Iran signaled on Friday that an agreement to end their war was close, with a senior U.S. administration official saying both sides had agreed on a text and that Washington ​expects to sign an initial deal in the coming days. There are reports that the two sides will meet in Geneva in the coming 3-4 days. iAccording to the BBC, the agreement  includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Foreign Minister has said. Seyed Abbas Araghchi told state TV the deal also includes the lifting of a US blockade of Iran, but that talks on Iran's nuclear programme would begin later. US officials have confirmed some of the details of the agreement, saying economic benefits for Iran would depend on Tehran meeting its obligations. The war began with US and Israeli strikes across Iran on 28 February, prompting Iran to attack Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf - as well as effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world's oil and liquefied gas. Trump says there is "no such thing as dealing in good faith" when it comes to negotiating with the Iranians Despite having agreed a ceasefire in April, the US and Iran have exchanged intermittent fire, including two rounds of tit-for-tat strikes this week. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had cancelled "scheduled attacks" against Iran, because negotiators had "just made a great settlement" - a deal that was likely be to signed imminently. On Friday, Iranian media published some details from the alleged 14-point deal which Trump said had "nothing to do with the terms that were agreed to" and "bears no relation to the truth".

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov