“Velvet” Armenia’s personnel policy leaves a lot to be desired.

The prime minister’s recent appointment, which he publicly justified as a “political” one, of an inexperienced 29-year-old as deputy chief of the security services was widely viewed as a not-so-transparent way of stationing a trusted attache in a strategic agency two years into his administration.

It is evident that the new regime does not have an extensive reserve of personnel and does not in large part allow itself to rely on the experience and expertise of the officials of its overthrown
predecessor.

With rare exceptions, for example the deputy minister of territorial administration Vatche Terteryan, professional cadre have taken a back seat to the “revolutionary vanguard” when appointment time has come around.

And so from matters of internal affairs to civil aviation, from Yerevan city hall and across the country, it is one fiasco after the next.

For the time being, let’s give the new appointee his opportunity to serve.

At some point, though, self-confidence, standards, and professionalism must become the order of the day, if new Armenia is ever to have a fighting chance.