DASHNAKS PICK UP MINISTER OF EDUCATION SLOT

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000691 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AM SUBJECT: DASHNAKS PICK UP MINISTER OF EDUCATION SLOT REF: YEREVAN 662 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. -------------- DASHNAKS ADD ONE MINISTER -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun) party received a new cabinet portfolio after Speaker of the National Assembly Artur Baghdasaryan pulled his Orinats Yerkir (OY) party and its cabinet members from the ruling coalition on May 12 (reftel). On May 17, President Kocharyan signed a decree dismissing Sergo Yeritsyan and appointing Levon Mkrtchyan (MP, head of the Dashnak faction in the National Assembly) as Minister of Education and Science. Mkrtchyan, who has led the Ministry twice before, was the ARF's obvious first choice for this position. The ARF, with only 11 out of 131 seats in the Parliament, controls three other cabinet posts: Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Agriculture, as well as the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. ¶2. (SBU) Levon Mkrtchyan's appointment was no surprise, neither was the fact that ARF got the post. The education sphere is one of the most corrupt ones in Armenia, and the Dashnaks had publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the OY number two and former minister Sergo Yeritsyan numerous times. An ARF representative told us the day before Mkrtchyan's appointment that they would not tolerate Yeritsyan as Minister of Education, even after he had left Orinats Yerkir in a bid to retain his ministerial portfolio. -------------- BIO NOTES: LEVON MKRTCHYAN -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Levon Mkrtchyan (41),personable and extremely bright, is a prominent, up-and-coming leader within the ARF. In the mid-90s he led the ARF, which was essentially banned at that time under former president Levon Ter-Petrosyan's administration. From 1996 to 1998 he was a member of the Central Committee of Hay Dat (the Armenian Cause). After President Kocharyan come to power in 1998, Mkrtchyan held various governmental posts: Minister of Education and Science (1998-1999),Adviser to the Prime Minister (1999-2000), Deputy Foreign Minister (2000-2001),Minister of Education and Science (2001-2003). In May 2003 he was elected into the Parliament from the proportional list of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun and led the Party faction. Mkrtchyan headed the National Assembly's multi-party Armenia-U.S. Friendship Group until his appointment as Minister of Education and speaks good English. Mkrtchyan is a graduate of Yerevan State University and holds a PhD in History. He is married with one child. EVANS