Armenia's New Pro-Biz Prime Minister

In office less than six months, Tigran Sargsyan is trying to change Armenian politics, vowing to fight graft and overhaul the government

By Arpi Harutyunyan

Environmentalists campaigned fervently against plans to open a large tract of relatively untouched forest land to strip mining, only to watch the Armenian National Assembly approve the deal anyway.

This spring, as the snows in the mountainous north began to melt and work started at the Teghut mine, a coalition of conservation groups renewed their push to have the government reconsider the approval of what they contend will cause irreversible damage to the nation's dwindling forestland.

More accustomed to setbacks than progress in dealing with political leaders in Yerevan, environmentalists got a shock when the country's new prime minister, Tigran Sargsyan, not only agreed to discuss their concerns, but seemed to cozy up to their arguments.

"We can't damage nature, because it'll cost our state and the people much more to repay," Sargsyan told a group of conservationists on 20 June. "And clearly, we need to take that into account from the very beginning and make balanced decisions. We need not be seduced by industry's statistics alone, but realize the importance of providing a proper living environment for people."

Environmentalists hailed as unprecedented the prime minister's decision to meet face-to-face and to openly discuss the government's controversial approval — even if the mining operations in northern Armenia's Teghut forest continue.

"This was the first serious meeting with a high-ranking official like the prime minister within the last 15 to 20 years," said Hakob Sanasaryan, chairman of the Greens' Union. "But the outcome of the meeting showed the discussion in fact was a formality. Maybe he will carry out serious reforms in other spheres, but not Teghut, I think."

A NEW STYLE OF LEADER

Formality or not, the meeting is one sign that the prime minister, who has been in office less than six months, is trying to change Armenian politics. With a reputation for corruption, divisive politics, and a political culture wedded in favoritism, the country has a long way to go. But the former Central Bank chairman has been talking change — and has already ruffled some feathers in the process.

Since taking office after an explosive political spring, Sargsyan met lawmakers discouraged by the deadly crackdown on demonstrators who claimed that the dominant Republican Party stole the February presidential election. He is also setting standards almost unheard of among public officials in Armenia — punctuality, competence and openness.

Tatul Manaseryan, an economics professor at Yerevan State University and a former independent member of the National Assembly, believes the prime minister is trying to shake up the system and rattles off a long list of changes.

"The PM has started important reforms from his office: the work day starts at 9 a.m., the government sessions are as transparent as possible, he demands computer and other kinds of literacy from the ministers, organizes regularly scheduled meetings with citizens and actively responds to the questions raised, made a call for cooperation to the opposition and participated and spoke at the opposition congress, set a compulsory requirement for the ministries to work with non-governmental organizations, and so on," Manaseryan said.

Indeed, Sargsyan has been unafraid to criticize corruption, bribery, smuggling, and other problems — charges often made by monitoring organizations and citizens, but rarely from the mouths of senior politicians.

"The number one problem in the Republic of Armenia is not the problem of democracy, nor the lack of freedom of expression," Sargsyan recently told the National Assembly. "The number one problem is the corruption that hinders all our reforms. If we don't manage to create equal conditions of competition for economic entities, there won't be any democracy in Armenia. That is the basis and corruption is our number one enemy."