Karen Karapetyan, Prime Minister of Armenia: biography, family

Economist from Armenia Karen Karapetian, who has been at the head of "ArmRosgazprom" for almost a decade, has strong ties in Russian business circles, especially in Gazprom. He gained fame as a confidant of the former Armenian leader Kocharian.

From 13.09.2016 he took the post of prime minister of this republic. The Armenian people hope that Karapetyan will successfully carry out a number of reforms in the economic sphere and significantly improve the investment climate.

Karen V. Karapetyan, biography, marital status

The birthplace of Karapetyan is the city of Stepanakert of the Azerbaijan SSR, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. Date of birth - August 14, 1963.

In 1980, Karen graduated from high school and entered Yerevan State University, where he studied at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, which he graduated with excellent marks.

Karen V. Karapetyan, whose family always provided him with full support, managed to make a good scientific career, which helped in the future to occupy high positions.

He brought up three children with his wife.

Since 1989 he is a candidate of economic sciences.

In 2010 he received a doctorate. He has 32 scientific works.

From 1985 to 1996, Karen Karapetian worked in the Republican State Planning Committee and was a member of the Association of Scientists.

During the same period he was a teacher at the Yerevan State University.

1996 -1998 - Deputy General Director of the State Enterprise "Armenergo".

From 1998 to 2001 he was the General Director of Armenergo CJSC.

Since 2001, he was entrusted with the post of deputy energy minister of the republic.
In some media it is alleged that Karen Karapetyan is in kinship with former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan who recommended him to the post of general director of "ArmRusgasprom". This joint Armenian-Russian enterprise was established in 1997.

He occupied this post from 2001 to 2010, until he was elected to the post of Mayor of Yerevan.

Working in high positions

Since 2008, Karen Karapetian took up the post of chairman of the board of Areximbank.

Since 2009, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has nominated him as a member of the Yerevan Council of Elders.

On the election of the mayor of the city on December 17, 2010, 51 votes were cast for Karapetyan from the council of elders. 65.

2.01.2011 Mr. Karapetyan demanded the necessity of studying the English language for the employees of the City Hall.

On January 20, 2011 he demanded an increase in the level of communication in Russian. Such innovations have caused an ambiguous reaction.

Many young employees liked the prospect of free English language learning during working hours. Senior staffers perceived these measures as an attempt to get rid of age-based cadres who will be difficult to learn a foreign language.

On 20.01.2011 the new mayor of the Council of Elders submitted a program of structural changes to the mayor's office for approval. A key point in the new structure was the possibility of redistribution of powers and the introduction of a new post of vice-mayor for finance.

Statements and activities as mayor

Karapetyan constantly spoke about the need to introduce a new municipal culture that would satisfy both urban residents and visitors.

As mayor, he was not a supporter of "personnel pogroms and cadre genocide". He did not plan to reshuffle the leaders in the administrative districts of the city, but he proposed to play the game according to new rules, increasing the requirements for managers.

According to the mayor, all those who did not meet the increased demands were to leave their posts.

On March 15, 2011, Karapetyan and the Council of Elders of the capital decided that all kindergartens belonging to the mayoralty should be free from April 2011.

The mayor at the same time stressed that to this important step he was prompted by the social importance of this problem and the forecasts of an increase in the number of children who need places in kindergartens.

In the summer of 2011, implementing the program for the improvement of the city's transport system, the City Hall twice increased the cost of tickets for the metro since July.
Karapetyan explained that the previous tariff was provided by subsidies from the treasury of the administration, but this possibility ended, as there is not enough money in the mayor's office for this.

After the adoption of this decision, the people went to rallies and protests, where it was stated that the rise in price of twice the journey by metro is unacceptable for the social situation that prevailed at that time in the republic.

Conflict with street vendors

In early 2011, the mayor was banned from street trading. The merchants had to move to the markets.

This decision was explained by the intention to streamline urban trading activities, but as a result, people who traded in the streets went to protest actions.

26.01.11 a crowd of street vendors gathered near the City Hall to demand the resignation of the mayor.

On March 3, 2011 the protesters came to the building of the republican government under the leadership of the deputies representing the parliamentary faction "Heritage".
Protest action led to clashes of protesters with the police. The protest of the protesters was expressed in discontent with the decision of the city administration, connected with bans on street trade, which deprived many people of their earnings.

The President of the Republic, having received dozens of appeals from street vendors, instructed the city administration to investigate the issue of organizing street trade within the city of Yerevan.

By April, the Mayor's Office announced that the first three mini-markets were opening in the Armenian capital.

The protest of street vendors, dissatisfied with the decisions of the mayor, lasted several months. By July, in protest actions, there were threats of declaring hunger strikes.

Further aggravation of the conflict

On 9.08.2011 the Council of Elders of the Yerevan City Hall, at the suggestion of the mayor, decided to dismantle stalls and stalls located on the streets of the capital.

In the process of this dismantling a lot of skirmish owners collided with representatives of law enforcement agencies. Stormy protests of the owners of stalls and stalls were caused by illegal, in their opinion, the actions of the city authorities.

10.08. Near the building of the republican government, entrepreneurs initiated the collection of signatures for a message-complaint against the mayor's decisions.
The next day, Karapetyan stated that in the near future only unregistered or non-working stalls will be demolished.

Owners of stalls and stalls at the government building again held a protest action.

28.11.2011 Karapetyan left the post of mayor, referring to personal circumstances.

Karen V. Karapetyan is the Prime Minister of Armenia

From December 2011 until September this year, Karapetyan lived in Moscow, where he worked in various positions in the Gazprom system.

In early September, 2016, as a result of the protest actions in the Armenian capital, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of the republic O. Abrahamyan resigned along with all members of the government.

The President of Armenia S. Sargsyan proposed to appoint K.V. as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Karapetyan by the ruling Republican Party, this candidature was approved.

Karen V. Karapetyan, whose fortune probably increased during his time in the Russian "Gazprom," September 13, began work as the Prime Minister of Armenia.