ARMENIAN PRESIDENT APPOINTS SERZH SARKISYAN PRIME MINISTER
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 4 2007
YEREVAN, April 4 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
has appointed Serzh Sarkisyan to the post of the country’s prime
minister after relieving him from the post of defense minister,
the presidential press service said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan, who held the post since May 2000,
died March 25 of a heart attack at the age of 55.
On March 26, President Robert Kocharyan accepted the Cabinet’s
resignation due to Markaryan’s death. The Armenian leader charged
the Cabinet with continuing its duties until a new one could be formed.
>>From 1996 to 1999, Sarkisyan was the interior and national security
minister, and in 2000 he resumed the powers of Armenia’s defense
minister, the position he held in 1996.
Parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for May 12, and
following the first session of a new parliament the Cabinet will
resign once again.