Arshak Karapetyan (Armenian: Արշակ Կարապետյան; born 6 February 1967) is an Armenian major general who served as Minister of Defense of Armenia from 3 August to 15 November 2021.[2]
Biography
Arshak Karapetyan was born on 6 February 1967 in Yerevan.[3] From 1984 to 1989 he studied in Russia at the Kaliningrad Higher Naval College.[3] From 1994 to 1997 he studied at the Frunze Military Academy of the Russian Armed Forces, graduating with a gold medal.[3] In 2006 he took an English-language military course at the University of York in the United Kingdom, and in 2008 took a course at the Military Academy of the Russian Armed Forces. In 2011, he attended courses at Harvard Kennedy School.[3]
He served in the Armed Forces of Armenia from 1993 to 2018.[3][4] He holds the rank of major general.[3] From 2018 to 2021 he was an advisor to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.[3] From 13 April to 20 July 2021 he was the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia.[5][6] On 20 July 2021, by the decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense, and on 2 August of the same year, he was appointed Minister of Defense.[3][7][8]
Karapetyan was dismissed on 15 November 2021 and succeeded by Suren Papikyan.[9]