Suren Rafiki Papikyan (; born 26 April 1986) is an Armenian politician currently serving as the Minister of Defense of Armenia. He formerly served as minister of territorial administration and infrastructure and briefy as deputy prime minister. He is also chairman of the board of the ruling Civil Contract Party.

Biography

Suren Papikyan was born on 26 April 1986, in the town of

Stepanavan Stepanavan ( hy, Ստեփանավան), is a town and municipal community in the Lori Province of Armenia. It is located 139 km north of the capital Yerevan and 24 km north of the provincial centre Vanadzor, halfway between Yerevan and T ...

, now in the Lori Province of Armenia. He graduated from Stepanavan College No. 1 and was accepted to the Faculty of History of

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; hy, Երևանի Պետական Համալսարան, ԵՊՀ, ''Yerevani Petakan Hamalsaran''), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919 ...

in 2003. Papikyan was called up for service in the Armenian Armed Forces while attending university. While serving in the military, Papikyan was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment, reportedly due to a violent incident with a commanding officer, but was released about a year later in a general amnesty. Papikyan received his master's degree in history with honors from

in 2012. Parallel to his studies, he worked as a history teacher at Yerevan High School No. 54 from 2010 to 2016 and from 2011 to 2018 at Quantum College in Yerevan. From 2012 to 2016 he conducted his postgraduate studies at

Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

. Papikyan is a founding member of the Civil Contract Party. He was elected deputy chairman of the party board in 2016 and chairman of the board in 2019. Papikyan participated in the 2017 Armenian parliamentary elections as a candidate for the

Way Out Alliance The Way Out Alliance ( hy, «Ելք» դաշինք, ԵԼՔ; ''YELK Dashink, YELQ'') or Yelk Alliance or simply Yelk or Way Out was a liberal political alliance of three political parties in Armenia: Civil Contract, Bright Armenia and the Hanrap ...

. Papikyan participated in the

2018 Armenian revolution The 2018 Armenian Revolution, most commonly known in Armenia as #MerzhirSerzhin ( hy, ՄերժիրՍերժին, meaning "#RejectSerzh"), was a series of anti-government protests in Armenia from April to May 2018 staged by various political and ...

which brought

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1 ...

to power. On 11 May 2018, Papikyan was appointed Minister of Territorial Administration and Development of Armenia in Nikol Pashinyan's first government. During the 2018 snap parliamentary elections, he headed the campaign headquarters of the My Step bloc and was elected to parliament as a member of the same bloc. Papikyan resigned from parliament in January 2019. He was reappointed minister of territorial administration and infrastructure on 1 June 2019. After briefly occupying the position of deputy prime minister, Papikyan was appointed Minister of Defense of Armenia on 15 November 2021. The day after his appointment, significant clashes occurred on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, resulting in human and territorial losses for the Armenian side.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papikyan, Suren Armenian politicians 21st-century Armenian historians Defence ministers of Armenia Living people 1986 births Yerevan State University alumni Saint Petersburg State University alumni Civil Contract (Armenia) politicians