Vartan Oskanian
Advisor to the CEO, Recom
Since January 2019, Vartan Oskanian is with Recom as Advisor to the CEO, where he brings thirty years of experience in international relations, negotiations, public international law and public policy. Vartan Oskanian served as minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Armenia from 1998 to 2008. Prior to his ministerial appointment, he held several high level positions in the ministry, which he had joined from the first day of Armenia’s independence in September 1991. Immediately prior to his joining Recom, Mr Oskanian was in academia. In 2019, he taught a course “Politics of Self-Determination and Secession,” first at the University of Southern California in the Spring semester of 2018 and in the Fall semester of the same year at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr Oskanian’s first degree was in structural engineering from Yerevan Polytechnic Institute in Armenia (1979), followed by a Masters degree in the same field from Tufts University in Boston, (1983). After changing focus, he acquired two other masters degrees, one from Harvard University in Government Studies and another from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in public international law. After leaving his ministerial position in April 2008, Mr Oskanian established the Civilitas Foundation, a think tank and center for public advocacy, which remains one of the most reputable institutions in Armenia. Mr Oskanian was elected to the Armenian Parliament in 2012, where he served for five years. Mr Oskanian is born in Aleppo, Syria. He is married and has two sons. He is proficient in English, Arabic, French, Armenian and has passive knowledge of Russian.
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