Mikayel Minasian, the son-in-law of former President Serzh Sarkisian, has been recalled from his ambassadorial posts in the Vatican, Portugal and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta following a decree issued by Armenian President Armen Sarkissian this week.
According to an official report, the president’s November 1 decree was “based on the prime minister’s recommendation.”
Minasian was appointed Armenia’s ambassador to the Vatican in 2013. He served as first deputy chief of the presidential staff in 2008-2011. Political analysts increasingly regarded him as Sarkisian’s political and public relations strategist during that period.
During Minasian’s stint as Armenia’s ambassador to the Holy See the Pope conducted a mass in the Vatican on the Armenian Genocide Centennial in 2015. The following year Pope Francis paid a visit to Armenia where he reaffirmed his recognition of the 1915 Armenian massacres in Ottoman Turkey as genocide.
During his years of work in public office Minasian, 41, mostly kept low profile, but he is also thought to have controlled several private TV stations as well as a number of online news services.
Minasian’s diplomatic career appeared to be in limbo after the resignation of his father-in-law Sarkisian as prime minister in April 2018.
Sarkisian stepped down after sustained street protests led by then outspoken opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinian, who condemned Sarkisian’s election to the post after serving two consecutive five-year terms as president and amending the constitution to remain in the top state post as the head of the government.
Pashinian, who was Sarkisian’s main rival during Armenia’s political crisis last spring, went on to become the country’s next prime minister.
The health minister in the Pashinian government in July sacked Minasian’s father, Ara Minasian, from the position of executive director of a leading Yerevan hospital.
Incidentally, investigators in Yerevan said on Friday that fraud charges have been brought against Ara Minasian, whose whereabouts at this moment are not known to the Armenian authorities.
According to the Investigative Committee, Ara Minasian was put on the wanted list and the court was asked to issue an arrest warrant for him.
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