Hrachik Karapetyan, Director of Foreign Affairs at the Armenian SSR, Passes Away

Hrachik Karapetyan, the Director of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CPC) and later the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Republic of Armenia, has passed away at the age of 86.

This was reported by the Public Relations and Diplomatic Service Department of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “With deep sorrow, we announce that on December 25, in his 86th year of life, Hrachik Karapetyan, the Director of the CPC Central Committee and later the Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has passed away. We express our profound condolences regarding the loss of our colleague, who, through his many years of experience and selfless dedication, made an invaluable contribution to the establishment of the foreign affairs agency of newly independent Armenia, while also serving as an example of high professionalism and patriotism for many generations of those who have worked and are working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the statement read.

“The memory of Hrachik Karapetyan will always illuminate and warm the souls of all those who knew him. Our deepest condolences and support go to Mr. Karapetyan’s family members, relatives, and all who mourn his loss.”

Hrachik Ashoti Karapetyan was born in 1933 in Yerevan. In 1956, he graduated from the Geology Department of the Faculty of Geography at Yerevan State University. In 1962, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Leningrad Institute of Radiochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

From 1974 to 1988, he held the position of Director of the CPC Central Committee’s Affairs, while also serving as a plenipotentiary of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations. Since 1991, he continued his career at the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Head of Affairs (1991-1993), Deputy Head of the Financial and Economic Department (1993-1997), and later as an advisor to the Secretary of State, director of the administrative-economic department, and from 1998-1999, he was again appointed as the Director of Affairs of the Ministry. In 1997, he was awarded the diplomatic rank of “Counselor.”