Styopa (Stepan) Seryozhayi Safaryan ( hy, Ստյոպա Սերյոժայի Սաֆարյան; born 7 October 1973) is an Armenian politician and former member of the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Ազգային ժողով, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also infor ...

. From 2009 to 2012 he was the head of the parliamentary faction of Heritage Party and served as the party's general secretary from 2012 until his departure from the party in 2014. Since 2019 he has served as the chairman of the Public Council of Armenia.

Biography

Styopa Safaryan was born in the village of

Voskevan Voskevan ( hy, Ոսկեվան) is a village in the Tavush Province of Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of w ...

in the

Tavush province Tavush ( hy, Տավուշ, ) is a province of Armenia located at the northeast of Armenia, bordered by Georgia from the north and Azerbaijan from the east. Internally, Tavush borders the Gegharkunik Province from the south, Kotayk Province fro ...

of Armenia. In 1995 he graduated from the geological faculty 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 ...

(YSU), then in 1997 he graduated from the State Management Academy of Armenia and completed his post-graduate studies at the geological faculty of YSU in 1999. He received a specialization in conflict resolution and political science from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. From 1993 to 2000 he worked at the Armenian National Seismic Protection Service Agency. From 1998 to 2002 he worked as an administrator at the State Management Academy. From 2002 to 2007 he worked at the Armenian Center of Strategic and National Studies, which he headed from 2005 to 2007. Safaryan was elected to the National Assembly in the

2007 Armenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 12 May 2007. 1,364 candidates ran for the 131 seats, 41 of which were constituency seats with the remaining 90 being filled by a proportional party-list system. The electoral threshold was five per ...

as a candidate of the Heritage Party's electoral list. From 2007 to 2009 he was secretary of the party's parliamentary faction and leader of the faction from 2009 to 2012. In 2012 he was not reelected to parliament but was elected the general secretary of the Heritage Party. In 2013 he was elected to the

Yerevan City Council The Yerevan City Council () is the lawmaking body of the city of Yerevan, the capital and largest city of Armenia. It has 65 members elected by Party-list proportional representation system, headed by the Mayor of Yerevan. The Council serves as a ...

as a member of the "Barev Yerevan" faction (which was mostly made up of Heritage Party members). In 2014 he founded the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs, an independent research institute. Safaryan currently serves as the head of research of the institute. Safaryan was appointed to the Public Council of Armenia (a consultative body aimed at encouraging public participation in governance) in March 2019 at the proposal of Prime Minister

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 ...

. In December 2019 he was appointed chairman of the Public Council. He is set to participate in the parliamentary election in June 2021 as a candidate for the Shirinyan-Babajanyan Alliance of Democrats. Safaryan is an author of more than 50 scientific articles and 3 books.

Personal life

Safaryan is married and has one child. His sister, Seda Safaryan, is a lawyer known for representing one of the victims of the violent suppression of the

2008 Armenian presidential election protests A series of anti-government riots took place in Armenia following presidential elections held on 19 February 2008. Protests broke out in the Armenian capital Yerevan, organized by supporters of presidential candidate and former president Levon ...

References

Links

Official biographyCombating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, also focusing on intolerance and discrimination against Christians and members of other religions //Statement by Mr. Styopa Safaryan, Member of the National Assembly of Armenia, Head of “Heritage” Parliamentary faction
Members of the National Assembly (Armenia) 1973 births People from Tavush Province Living people {{Armenia-politician-stub