By Emilio Luciano Cricchio
Three deputy foreign ministers in Armenia submitted their resignations on Monday, effectively leaving the ministry without leadership.
On May 27, Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian resigned from his post, stating that, “the Armenian Foreign Ministry cannot agree to ideas that are against state interests.”
Analysts saw this as a possible reference to disagreements between the ministry and the government regarding how to handle the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan border crisis.
It is unclear if Nikol Pashinyan’s government will appoint a new foreign minister before the snap parliamentary elections on June 20. Pashinyan himself is on leave to focus on his party’s election campaign. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan is in charge of new appointees.
Days after Ayvazian’s resignation, Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan, as well as one deputy minister, Gagik Ghalachyan, resigned.
The government previously denied media reports that the other three deputy foreign ministers, Artak Apitonyan, Avet Adonts and Armen Ghevondyan, had submitted their resignations.