"Ani Avetisyan appointed Deputy Foreign Minister: choice based on skills, not on university prestige" by Carlo Coppola
Questo articolo di Carlo Coppola è apparso in lingua italiana sul periodico "La Fiaccola" diretto dall'avv. Paolo Scagliarini al seguente indirizzo:
By decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, published on August 20 on the e-gov.am platform and reported by Armenpress, Ani Avetisyan has been appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.
Born in Yerevan in 1991, she brings an academic record of genuine international standing: a bachelor's and master's degree in Oriental Studies from Yerevan State University, a master's in Jewish Civilizations from the University of Heidelberg, and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge, completed in 2023. Her scholarly work is equally substantial: research on the Judeo-Arabic manuscripts of the Matenadaran, teaching positions at Cambridge, a visiting research fellowship at Rutgers University, and, more recently, a research post at Brandeis University and a Rothschild Fellowship at Cambridge.
The appointment fits squarely within the approach Pashinyan has pursued in recent months: the call issued on June 13 inviting graduates of the world's top two hundred universities to apply for inclusion in the state personnel database — an initiative that has already drawn over 1,100 applications and led to the selection of 459 qualified candidates.
It is precisely on this point, I would argue, that the difference between strategic vision and a short-sighted reading of the news becomes clear. Much of the commentary circulating in recent hours has focused almost exclusively on where Avetisyan studied, as if an international education were a liability rather than an asset for Armenian diplomacy. Such a reading says more about the insecurities of those commenting than about the actual merits of the person appointed. The Prime Minister, by contrast, appears to be looking at concrete competencies: the ability to operate across diverse academic and institutional settings, and command of complex languages and disciplines — qualities that any foreign ministry should prize, not view with suspicion. Reducing the whole matter to a judgment on which university someone attended is a narrow-minded exercise, often fueled more by petty personal envy than by any serious assessment of professional qualifications.
In truth, the only element that might genuinely give the public pause is the new Deputy Minister's possible proximity to institutions connected to the Jewish world, given that her studies and specialization touched on Arab-Jewish topics.
The most significant fact, one that deserves to be stated clearly, is this: Ani Avetisyan is only the second woman in the history of the Republic of Armenia to hold the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, after Karine Ghazinyan, who passed away in 2012. It is a milestone that places Armenia among the first countries in the South Caucasus to see women hold this role, following in the footsteps of Georgia's Tamar Beruchashvili, Maia Panjikidze, and Khatuna Totladze, who have held comparable positions in Tbilisi over the years. It is a signal that goes beyond this single appointment — a symbolically important step for the region's institutions.
To the newly appointed Deputy Minister Ani Avetisyan go my very best wishes for her work ahead.
