Edward Nalbandian: Armenian Foreign Minister and Patriarch of Diplomatic Work

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Edward Nalbandyan, whose biography will be described below, began his diplomatic career back in the seventies of the last century. During this time, he managed to work in the embassies of many Arab countries, become a Knight of the Legion of Honor of France, and also build embassies for the newly born independent Armenia. Since 2008, a respected diplomat and authoritative orientalist has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs of a small but proud republic.

Medalist from the Armenian SSR

Edward Agvanovich Nalbandian was born in Yerevan in 1956 in the most ordinary family. His father died early, when the boy was not even thirteen years old. His body was worn out by the war, which he went through, participating in the most brutal battles, including Stalingrad.

Edward's mother worked as an ordinary doctor and did not even dream that her sonwill be able to enter the most prestigious university in the country, which was MGIMO in those years, which graduates workers for the international diplomatic service. However, Edward Nalbandian dreamed of a career as a diplomat and purposefully prepared for exams at the Moscow Institute. He graduated from high school with a gold medal, which gave him admission benefits.

However, out of excitement, Edward flunked the first exam, having passed the English language with only a "four". Then the Armenian medalist calmed down and brilliantly passed the remaining exams, becoming the only applicant from Armenia to successfully overcome the competitive selection at MGIMO that year.

On the front line

In 1978, Edward Nalbandian successfully graduated from MGIMO and was assigned to work in the Middle East. Here he began to carry out diplomatic service in the Soviet embassy in Lebanon. A young graduate of MGIMO found himself in the midst of a civil war in this Arab state. Foreign diplomats lived in Beirut in conditions of street fighting, worked in basements under intense bombing. Edavrd Agvanovich himself had to make risky sorties to another part of the city, making his way through cordons and roadblocks.

One fine day, a phosphorus bomb even hit his apartment, which then smoldered for several days. The difficult mission lasted five years and ended for Edward Nalbandyan with a morally difficult mission.

Already after he returned to Moscow, the terrorists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats, one of whom was killed. Deceased employeeArkady Katkov replaced Nalbandyan at his post, so the latter was entrusted with the mission of informing Arkady's relatives about the tragic incident.

Be that as it may, over the years of service in the Middle East, Edward Nalbandian gained invaluable international experience, and also received a government award - the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

Tough choice

In 1983, the young diplomat returned to Moscow, where he began working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here he decided to continue his education at the graduate school of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences. During the years of service in Lebanon, he fell in love with the Arab East forever and decided to get serious training for further work under the guidance of the country's best professors. In 1988, Edward Nalbandian successfully defended his dissertation, becoming a candidate of political sciences.

In the late 1980s, the diplomat again went on a business trip to the Middle East, this time to calmer Egypt. Here Edward Nalbandian was caught by the news of the collapse of the country, to whose service he devoted fifteen years of his life. At first, he continued to work at the embassy, over which not the Soviet, but the Russian flag was already fluttering.

Then it was time to make a decisive choice in life, and the diplomat chose to work for the benefit of his historical homeland. Edward Nalbandyan became Armenia's Charge d'Affaires in Egypt and began to create the diplomatic mission of his republic in Cairo almost from scratch.

An experienced diplomatic worker was thrown into the most critical areas of work, he wasAmbassador to Egypt, Morocco, Oman. In 1999, he became the Ambassador Extraordinary of Armenia to France, a country where a large and influential Armenian diaspora lived. Relations with this state were of particular importance for Armenia, and Edward Nalbandian did an excellent job with his duties. For a short period spent in Paris, he even received the most prestigious state award - the Order of the Legion of Honor.

Armenian Foreign Minister

Edward Nalbandian worked for many years in the most tense sectors of the diplomatic front, and only in 2008 did he get the opportunity to work on his native land. Then he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic and since then has been the permanent coordinator of Armenia's foreign policy.

In the field of international relations, the minister clearly and consistently continues the line determined from the very beginning of the formation of independent Armenia.

Principal issues include international recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination.