YEREVAN (Tert.am)–Armenia’s Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan submitted his resignation, which was accepted by President Serzh Sarkisian, announced ruling Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson Edward Sharmazanov following the party’s plenary session Thursday.
Sharmazanov said that Sargsyan had tendered his resignation a month ago, but given that the Constitutional Court was still reviewing Armenia’s pension reform, the president had asked him to continue his duties.
On Wednesday, Armenia’s Constitutional Court overturned the controversial reform law.
The announcement also came days after Armenia’s four major opposition parties announced plans for joint protests against the Sarkisian administration and in support of a vote of no confidence in the government, which is sought by opposition parties in Parliament. In their announcement, representatives of the Armenian National Congress party said that while the coalition as a whole is not yet asking for the resignation of President Sarkisian, the resignation of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and the other cabinet members would pave the way for a “complete regime change” in the country.
Sargsyan has said that his decision was a serious one and that he had weighed it for a long time. Sharmazanov said Sargsyan’s resignation was for personal reasons.
The Prime Minister posted on his public Facebook page on Thursday regarding his announcement. Sargsyan said: “Dear compatriots, back in February I made a request to the President Serzh Sarkisian to accept my resignation. The decision was weighted and conscious. We agreed to postpone presenting the application for my resignation taking into consideration a number of important state events and the need for holding the economic conference of Armenia’s Republican Party. I thank all the people with whom I worked and most of all to the President of the Republic of Armenia for trusting the high position of the Prime Minister to me. I wish the new government patriotic and productive work.”
Sargsyan has served as Prime Minister since April 2008. He was last reappointed as Prime Minister in May 2013.
Under the Armenian Constitution, a new prime minister has to be appointed within ten days after the current one’s resignation. A new government has to be appointed within 20 days after the appointment of a new prime minister.
Good riddance!
I wonder who’s going to replace him? Karen Karapetian..?
Good riddance to the IMF trained official who on the orders of his bosses in Washington some fifteen years ago sold all of Armenia’s gold in a Western-led international effort to artificially keep gold prices down and US Dollar value up. I hope his also Western-trained brother is next to go. I hope this is a further sign that Yerevan is gradually phasing out its now obsolete “complimentary politics”
This is “funny” now: Almost 25 years we are “independent” and whatever government was voted and resided, 100 other parties scream and yell that this government is corrupted, rules incorrectly, blah blah blah……..so it this many years didn’t we even once got the right government?
Compare this news with news of 10 years ago or 5 years ago is all same, but different name, same accusations……..
This is terrible, he was the only one who did not have the appearance of a thug or as they say “oligarch” and he was educated, now the government will look so “low class” more than ever. God forbid if the “butcher kocharyan” comes instead of Tigran Sargsyan then it is better to change the name of Armenia to gangland of Putin, what is the point of having a free country if it is infested with low class gangsters appointed by him.
Putin did not learn his lesson from Ukraine, if he did not run the oligarchic system in that country they would not have reached to this point and he would not be hated by them.
Armenians should stop kocharyan by any means, it is better to fight with them than like a sheep accept this “iliterate, uneducated son of a bitch” to come back since he is aming for presidency again to suck the little blood left from poor Armenians.
Where are the brave dashnaks!!!!
It is fair to say that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan should be held accountable and charged with embezzling and looting Armenia during his tenure in office. He should respond to the people as to how he managed to accumulate so much wealth at the expense of the poor Armenian people. To start with, he should provide explanation for his ill gotten assets, starting from his mansions in numerous European countries and large sums of money deposited in different foreign banks. He better not think of leaving the country and going to safe heavens where he and his family will live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Time for Justice has come! People of Armenia, stand up and demand for justice! If the Former Prime Minister gets away with his crimes against Armenia, nothing will change in our motherland. Let’s unite and take example from citizens in other countries who have successfully prosecuted their leaders and have removed them from public office….Long live the brave people of Armenia.
Thank God the idiot is well gone. He drove the country bankrupt……One less moron out of the IMF/Masonic school out.
I’m glad to see Tigran Sargsyan step down. He was way too connected with our western-NATO enemies to serve hold such an important position. He was basically a western-trained economist affiliated with the World Bank and IMF. He served for a long time as head of Armenia’s Central Bank, and I hold him personally responsible for obeying Western orders and “selling” (giving away at rock bottom prices) Armenia’s gold reserves, which led to the collapse of the Armenian Drams exchange rate with the US Dollar in March 2009 from 305:1 to 400:1 in March 2009. Western-trained economists are terrible at the job they are trained to do as evidenced by the collapsing US and EU economies, and having one as Prime Minister makes no sense for Armenia. I also hold Sargsyan responsible for pushing through the US and EU sponsored pension reform plan. It is obvious to everyone that the US, with the power it has had up to now through the dollar being the world’s reserve currency, actively tries to subjugate weaker nations through endless debt slavery and through austerity policies which result in failed states where Washington can then easily install a puppet dictator.
I hope the next PM is someone like Karen Karapetyan or Seyran Ohanyan, someone who will work towards Armenia’s national interests and who will strengthen the Russia-Armenia alliance and take a very, very hard line against western-funded politicians, propaganda outlets, “opposition” traitors, and so-called “NGOs”.
This is very positive and yes, either Karen Karapetyan, Ralph Yirikian, or Ruben Vardanyan could make great PMs. I hope the rest of the cleptocrat/technocrats, starting with Nerses Yeritsyan and Artur Djavadyan of Central Bank will leave too.
Great news. This was to be expected. Now that Armenia is safely under the umbrella of the Russian customs agreement and the western hold on Armenia’s political establishment has weakened, it is now safe to clean house and prepare the ground for the next presidential elections when Sarkissian has to step down. All done smoothly without any animosity or blood. Great job due to Armenia’s growing political stability thanks to our president and his chosen path. I feel that the western paid opposition in Armenia who was impotent to begin with has been further castrated. Look at the mess in Ukraine to see where being close to US/Europe will get a country.
Nothing special …! the same well known “job rotation” and cheating of the nation by the same group of Oligarchies &CO who have hijacked the whole country
In a couple of days it will be almost predictable who will be the next president and who the next PM and so on .. AS i mention “Job rotation”
What a pity we had had these kind of corrupted, ignorant and stupid oligarchs, the others still in government are not better than him, they should all be condemned and sit in prison and all their properties that they grabbed from the state of Armenia should be confiscated. I am getting sick, ashamed of this kind of people who represented Armenia! I hope we will not have any more decadence people like him and co.
Very interesting to hear all of the comments towards US/EU vs. Russia aligned Armenia. I am all for the people of Armenia determining their own direction and I hope the the average person can somehow be persuaded to rally… but be careful to lump greed, which is present in every culture and country b/c it is a trait of man himself, with any one country. I don’t see a positive future for Armenia under Russia. I don’t know enough to comment on this man stepping down. I never saw him as a product of the US…he seemed corrupt to me too.