Hrachya Tashchyan appointed acting director of Genocide  Museum-Institute

ArmInfo.Hrachya Tashchyan has been appointed as acting director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) Foundation. According to the AGMI press service, the decision was made at a meeting of the museum's Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees, according to the source, assumed his duties on March 13.

It should be noted that  from 2020 to 2021, Tashchyan served as the Head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Prime Minister's Office. Prior to that, since November 1, 2018, Tashchyan worked as an assistant to the Prime Minister. Before his role in the PM's office, he served as the Head of the Department of Multilateral Policy and Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Head of the NATO Section, and Envoy to the Armenian Embassy in the United States.  From 2009 to 2011, he served as Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Armenian Government Staff. He holds the diplomatic rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

In 2021, Tashchyan was dismissed from his position as Head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Prime Minister's Office, although he had been appointed for a three-year term. No reasons were given for the dismissal.

The dismissal came after a leaked report that Hrachya Tashchyan, along with former National Security Service head Artur Vanetsyan,  had served as a liaison between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Thus, on November 25, former Director of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan, addressing the topic of confidential negotiations with Azerbaijan, stated that another official had also ensured operational communications with Azerbaijan in 2018-2019. However, Artur Vanetsyan did not reveal the identity of the person, hinting that he was a staff member of the Prime Minister's Office. The following day, the ANI Center for Armenian Studies stated that the second official was Hrachya Tashchyan. "While Vanetsyan met with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Tashchyan communicated via WhatsApp with one of Ilham Aliyev's most loyal men, Hikmet Hajiyev," ANI reported.

Recall, on March 12, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan admitted in a conversation with reporters that it was at his "request" that Edita Gzoyan submitted her resignation. The  Prime Minister noted that he considered her actions to be provocative and contrary to Armenia's foreign policy:  Gzoyan had presented US Vice President J.D. Vance with a book about Artsakh during his visit to the Museum.