Armen Gevorgyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration of Armenia, has tendered his resignation after Surik Khachatryan was reappointed as Syunik Governor, a Yerevan-based newspaper Irates-de-facto writes. According to the source, Gevorgyan filed resignation yet two weeks ago, actually, immediately after Khachatryan's reappointment. "A day after Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan's extraordinary step, 'the direct supervisor' of governors packed up his belongings," the paper writes.
Khachatryan's reappointment sparked public protests in Syunik and then throughout the country. Regional businessmen and intellectuals are among the protesters.
To recall, Khachatryan resigned from the post of the Syunik Governor following shootouts in front of his house on June 2 2013 when the former candidate for Goris mayor Avo Budaghyan was killed and his brother Artak Budaghyan, a commander at a military unit in the NKR was wounded. There was another wounded, Nikolay Arustamyan, a relative and bodyguard of Governor Suren Khachartyan. Syunik Governor Suren Khachatryan's son, Tigran Khachatryan, was arrested over the shootouts. Earlier, the governor's bodyguard Zarzand Nikoghosyan was arrested over the case. However, the Court terminated the case and set free the Governor's son and his friend.
To calm down the tensions in Syunik, parliamentarian Vahe Hakobyan, the son of Zangezour copper and molybdenum plant's ex-director Maksim Hakobyan, was appointed as Syunik Governor. However, according to ArmInfo's data, Surik Khachatryan, who enjoys the support of the country's leadership, put a spoke in the young governor's wheel. Actually, Vahe Hakobyan was reluctant to send in his resignation.