Ararat Mirzoyan Appointed New Armenian Foreign Minister

YEREVAN — Former Armenian Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan has been appointed foreign minister by a decree signed today by President Armen Sarkissian upon the proposal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The post of Armenia’s foreign minister remained vacant since late May when Ara Ayvazian resigned over apparent policy disagreements with Pashinyan. All of Ayvazian’s four deputies followed suit.

In mid-July Pashinyan relieved Armen Grigoryan of his duties as secretary of the Security Council. Grigoryan was later appointed first deputy foreign minister acting as foreign minister.

Pashinyan signed a decree on August 19 reappointing Grigoryan as secretary of the Security Council.

Mirzoyan has served as speaker of the parliament of the previous convocation that was dissolved in May paving the way for snap parliamentary elections amid a political crisis triggered by Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war against Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the early hours on November 10, 2020, shortly after the announcement of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan requiring significant concessions from Armenia, Mirzoyan was attacked by an angry mob as protesters opposing the deal seized the parliament building. Mirzoyan then was hospitalized with serious injuries.