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Dashnak Minister Denies Renewed Friction With PM


Armenia -- Environment Minister Artsvik Minasian at a press conference in Yerevan, 27Dec2016
Armenia -- Environment Minister Artsvik Minasian at a press conference in Yerevan, 27Dec2016

Environment Minister Artsvik Minasian, one of the three cabinet members representing the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), on Tuesday dismissed renewed speculation about his tense relationship with Prime Minister Karen Karapetian.

Shortly after taking office last September, Karapetian publicly criticized Minasian, who was Armenia’s economy minister at the time, prompting a stern rebuke from a Dashnaktsutyun leader. Minasian was subsequently appointed to his current ministerial post after objecting to the new prime minister’s decision to the rename the Armenian Ministry of Economy.

Media speculation about lingering tensions between the two men was only stoked by this month’s two massive wildfires that burned hundreds of hectares of forests in the country. Some critics blame the Ministry of Environment Protection for the fires, saying that it failed to take necessary precautions despite an unusually hot and dry weather.

Speaking at the RFE/RL studio in Yerevan, Minasian insisted that his rapport with Karapetian is “very normal” and “not tense” and that critical statements made by the premier are only “natural.”

“On the contrary, it would be bad if nothing was said and if all discussions, government meetings were mere formalities,” he said. “I think that a healthy atmosphere should be encouraged and that only a healthy debate can produce the best solution.”

Accordingly, the minister ruled out the possibility of his resignation. “Every time you receive and accept a proposal to take up a political post, the time will come when you will resign from it,” he said. “But right now there is no such issue. I had a discussion with the prime minister today as well.”

“We now need to come up with an analysis of this situation and approaches, including changes that we have to make,” he added in an apparent reference to additional government measures to protect Armenian forests.

Minasian also emphasized that he occupies his “political post” as a result of a power-sharing deal between Dashnaktsutyun and President Serzh Sarkisian which was struck in early 2016 and extended shortly after the April 2017 parliamentary elections. The two other government members affiliated with Dashnaktsutyun are Territorial Administration Minister Davit Lokian and Education Minister Levon Mkrtchian.

Dashnaktsutyun controls 7 seats in Armenia’s 105-member parliament elected in April.

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