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ARMENIA LEADER: CANNY CHESS PLAYER WITH SOLDIER'S STEEL
Global Post
Feb 18 2013
Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian derives much of his popularity
from a strongman image as a veteran of the war with Azerbaijan but
is also a chess fanatic whose canny foreign policy resembles moves
on a chess board.
Sarkisian's militaristic background is seen as the prime explanation
for the popularity which is expected to see him win Monday's
presidential poll, being held at a time of fresh tension with its
neighbourhood foe Azerbaijan.
Sarkisian, 59, was born in Nagorny Karabakh itself, the lushly
beautiful region that translates as Black Garden but was the scene
of a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union fell that
left 30,000 people dead.
He held top military posts in the war, including the head of the
Karabakh defence committee and won respect for refusing to evacuate
his family out of the main Karabakh town of Stepanakert where they hid
in cellars to suffer the daily bombardments along with everyone else.
"People in Armenia are of course not unanimous about Sarkisian. But
his most positive characteristics, that all are agreed on, are that he
fought, he went through the war and he is one of the founders of the
Armenian army," the director of the Armenian sociological association
Gevorg Pogosian told AFP.
After Armenia's independence, Sarkisian held top government posts
including defence minister and interior minister before becoming
prime minister in 2007.
He became Armenia's third president in 2008 but the victory was
tarnished by bloody clashes between the security forces and supporters
of former president Levon Ter-Petrosian that left 10 people dead.
Analysts credit Sarkisian with healing the wounds of society since
then by showing a streak of pragmatism that has contrasted with the
often stubborn defiance of his predecessor Robert Kocharian.
Persistent corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs in his
circle has also cast a shadow over his rule, and he has vowed not to
run in the 2018 election.
Sarkisian is a fanatical chess player who heads the Armenia chess
federation and who has overseen a stunning development of the sport
in the country, with Armenians frequently winning top competitions
and mobbed as heroes on their return home.
He is fond of stating that chess moves are sometimes useful in
politics and he has needed to use all his cunning to ensure a strong
foreign policy for the small Christian country surrounded by much
more powerful neighbours.
Under his rule, Armenia has managed the unlikely feat of having a
strategic partnership with its former Soviet master Russia while
deepening ties with the EU, NATO and the United States as well
as keeping a conspicuously warm friendship with its giant Islamic
neighbour Iran.
Less successful have been cautious attempts to forge ties with its
foe Turkey -- a hugely risky strategy given the opposition within
the 10 million strong Armenian diaspora who want the World War I mass
killings of Armenians termed worldwide as a genocide carried out by
the Ottoman Empire.
The Nagorny Karabakh war left the Azerbaijani territory controlled
by Armenian separatists who declared a breakaway state almost
exclusively populated by Armenians that is backed, although not
formally recognised, by Yerevan.
With the Baku defence budget wallowing in petrodollars and President
Ilham Aliyev inclined to bellicose rhetoric, Sarkisian has vowed to
strike back with massive retaliation should Azerbaijan seek to take
the region by force.
mkh-sjw/zak/txw
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130218/armenia-leader-canny-chess-player-soldiers-steel
Global Post
Feb 18 2013
Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian derives much of his popularity
from a strongman image as a veteran of the war with Azerbaijan but
is also a chess fanatic whose canny foreign policy resembles moves
on a chess board.
Sarkisian's militaristic background is seen as the prime explanation
for the popularity which is expected to see him win Monday's
presidential poll, being held at a time of fresh tension with its
neighbourhood foe Azerbaijan.
Sarkisian, 59, was born in Nagorny Karabakh itself, the lushly
beautiful region that translates as Black Garden but was the scene
of a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union fell that
left 30,000 people dead.
He held top military posts in the war, including the head of the
Karabakh defence committee and won respect for refusing to evacuate
his family out of the main Karabakh town of Stepanakert where they hid
in cellars to suffer the daily bombardments along with everyone else.
"People in Armenia are of course not unanimous about Sarkisian. But
his most positive characteristics, that all are agreed on, are that he
fought, he went through the war and he is one of the founders of the
Armenian army," the director of the Armenian sociological association
Gevorg Pogosian told AFP.
After Armenia's independence, Sarkisian held top government posts
including defence minister and interior minister before becoming
prime minister in 2007.
He became Armenia's third president in 2008 but the victory was
tarnished by bloody clashes between the security forces and supporters
of former president Levon Ter-Petrosian that left 10 people dead.
Analysts credit Sarkisian with healing the wounds of society since
then by showing a streak of pragmatism that has contrasted with the
often stubborn defiance of his predecessor Robert Kocharian.
Persistent corruption and the influence of powerful oligarchs in his
circle has also cast a shadow over his rule, and he has vowed not to
run in the 2018 election.
Sarkisian is a fanatical chess player who heads the Armenia chess
federation and who has overseen a stunning development of the sport
in the country, with Armenians frequently winning top competitions
and mobbed as heroes on their return home.
He is fond of stating that chess moves are sometimes useful in
politics and he has needed to use all his cunning to ensure a strong
foreign policy for the small Christian country surrounded by much
more powerful neighbours.
Under his rule, Armenia has managed the unlikely feat of having a
strategic partnership with its former Soviet master Russia while
deepening ties with the EU, NATO and the United States as well
as keeping a conspicuously warm friendship with its giant Islamic
neighbour Iran.
Less successful have been cautious attempts to forge ties with its
foe Turkey -- a hugely risky strategy given the opposition within
the 10 million strong Armenian diaspora who want the World War I mass
killings of Armenians termed worldwide as a genocide carried out by
the Ottoman Empire.
The Nagorny Karabakh war left the Azerbaijani territory controlled
by Armenian separatists who declared a breakaway state almost
exclusively populated by Armenians that is backed, although not
formally recognised, by Yerevan.
With the Baku defence budget wallowing in petrodollars and President
Ilham Aliyev inclined to bellicose rhetoric, Sarkisian has vowed to
strike back with massive retaliation should Azerbaijan seek to take
the region by force.
mkh-sjw/zak/txw
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130218/armenia-leader-canny-chess-player-soldiers-steel